Target
by phoebe.a
Summary: As an ex-cop-turned-private-investigator, Kakashi's seen it all, from gang related homicides to the death of his partner. But, what is a man to do when a wanted criminal not only enters his house uninvited but also takes his heart hostage? Kakashi X Anko
1. White Snakes

**Target **

_As an ex-cop-turned-private-investigator, Kakashi's seen it all, from gang related homicides to the death of his partner. But, what is a man to do when a wanted criminal not only enters his house uninvited but also takes his heart hostage? Kakashi X Anko. Alternate Universe. _

**Chapter One: White Snakes**

The darkness in the alleyway was almost palpable. The only sound in the vacant street was the sharp click of pointy stiletto boots. A lone woman walked to the next street and rounded the corner, her oversized trench coat flapped precariously close to her pointed shoes; one wrong step and she was sure to slip on it. Her mastery with heeled shoes was tested when she suddenly started to run. The feeling of being followed consumed her. She dipped her hand into her right pocket and clutched the cold handle of the switchblade housed there.

"_Anko,"_ an androgynous voice called out to her.

"Who are you, show yourself!" The woman turned towards the voice, her weapon drawn.

There was no reply. Only a grey cat from behind a dumpster eyed her suspiciously. Anko was sure that she heard the voice; just as sure that she was being followed. She was sure that the person stalking her was someone who was said to have been dead a long time ago: Orochimaru. After seeing that there was no one there to attack her, her hand self-consciously rubbed at the cloth covering the tattoo on her neck. A symbol indicating that she belonged to Orochimaru's mob.

But, it wasn't his rumoured death which prompted her clandestine stroll in the middle of the night, there were bigger things involved. She entered a nearby apartment building to her left, knife concealed but drawn, and ran up the single flight of stairs to the second floor before climbing out a terrace window and hoisting herself up on to a third-, then fourth-, story balcony. The frosty air outside almost caused her hands to stick to the cold metal of the guardrails. The sun was already on its way up, she was running out of time. She landed with an audible click of her shoes before hiding in the shadows.

"One, two, three, four, five..." she counted mutely as she waited to see if anyone saw or heard her.

Now that she was certain that there was no one out to disturb her mission, she moved swiftly to the veranda doors and slid them open into the apartment suite beyond. Anko shimmied under the dusty curtains, careful not to let the first rays of light shine through. Behind the curtains, the entire room was dark. She was sure that she was in the apartment's living area. She slinked towards the closed bedroom, her blade held in front of her for protection. When she pushed the door open a crack, a ray of light streamed into the pitch darkness of the hallway. Anko didn't even have time to blink when the door completely opened and a gun was pointed at her face.

"Who the hell are you?" a man's voice ripped through her initial shock.

She couldn't see his face clearly because of the blinding florescent lights behind him and the gun pressed against her forehead.

"Answer me, who are you?" he asked again.

Anko swallowed awkwardly, her throat suddenly dry. "I was looking for someone. I need his help."

"You didn't answer me," the gun was steady, a trait of a professional. "Who are you?"

"Anko Mitarashi," she replied. "I'm here to find Kakashi Hatake."

"Why?" he asked her curtly. "What do you want from him?"

"I don't want anything from him," Anko snapped. "I have something he needs."

The gun on her forehead pulled away slightly, although it was still pointed at her. "What would that be?"

"I need to see him first before I can say anything more." Anko was finally able to see her adversary clearer.

She looked up to see a silver-haired man with mismatched coloured eyes and a stoic frown upon his lips. A vertical scar ran down from his left brow, down his left cheek before ending at a point under his cheekbone.

"Stop staring and tell me what you want."

"You're Kakashi Hatake?" Anko asked him.

"Yes," he grunted. "But, I really don't need women bothering me."

"You're going to need me." Anko stated confidently.

"What makes you so sure about that?" he gave her a mild smirk, humouring her reply.

Anko took her switchblade and pressed the edge against her neck. Kakashi was prepared to shoot the blade from her hand if she tried anything funny. He watched as Anko poked a hole into the collar of her turtleneck and ripped the fabric in one quick up-ward motion, thus, exposing her tattoo. She, in turn, watched him as his placid expression turned into alertness.

"Why did you come here?" He asked her, eyeing her marked skin. "You could be killed out here."

"That's why I came," Anko's lips slowly turned up into a grin. "Kakashi Hatake, I have a proposition for you."

"And what would that be?"

"I know that you've been trying to bring down Kabuto Yakushi, Orochimaru's successor, and his entire drug-ring," Anko started. "I have information on him and his business dealings. I am willing to help you find him and bring him to justice."

"Why?"

"In exchange, I want protection," Anko folded her blade and placed it back into her pocket, "From the Akatsuki."

Kakashi's breath came out in a rush. In the past he had to deal with Orochimaru and his gang of drug dealers. Trying to unearth the extent of the entire drug-ring was like trying to navigate through a jungle using a toothpick for a compass. Many of Konoha's finest had died trying to uncover the mystery. Now that Orochimaru, the _White Snake_, was said to be dead, Kakashi was afraid that he would have to start back in square one. The woman before him would certainly be able to help him, but was he willing to go out on a limb and cross the _Akatsuki_'s path to do it? Kakashi was almost certain that Anko was in greater danger than she was letting on. The Akatsuki weren't the kind of gang to cross. Some of the gang's members were even prominent politicians. He wondered what the woman before him could have done to deserve such a horrible fate.

He observed her steady gaze on him, her fear and desperation evident in her eyes.

"I will agree to your proposition only if you do exactly as I say. If I tell you to run, you run. If I tell you to hide, you hide—"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it: if you tell me to hold my breath, I hold my breath." Anko replied sassily. "So, where do I sleep?"

She walked to the mattress on the floor and sat on one side. "Can I have this side? I like sleeping on the right side."

Kakashi was struck speechless. The woman was crazy.

"Don't you have your own bed?"

"If I did, would I be asking if I can sleep on this one?" Anko rolled her eyes.

"How do I know that you're not going to slit my throat in my sleep?"

"We're on Akatsuki territory, if I so much as take a step outside during the day, there'll be a picture of my dead body pasted on front page news tomorrow. And unless I want to stay in a room with a smelly corpse for the next twenty-four hours, I don't think that I'll be killing you anytime soon." Anko reasoned. "Besides, I came here because I need you, remember? I wouldn't risk my life getting here in the first place if I'm just going to kill the only person that can save me."

"Then how do you know that I won't turn you in?" Kakashi tested her.

"Because you used to be a cop and you really want to catch the person responsible for killing the people you used to work with, especially Konoha's former Chief of Police, Hiruzen Sarutobi." Anko explained. "I'm a one in a million chance, Hatake. Besides, I'm confident that even you can't save me from the Akatsuki. I just want to get the information to the right person before I die."

"Why won't you tell me everything now, then?"

"I'm sleepy." Anko said, as if that was reason enough, before lying on her back and wrapping the blanket around her, "I'll tell you everything soon enough. Just protect me until then."

XXXX

Kakashi awoke the next day to the sound of music. He got up off his spot in the corner of the room, tucked his gun into the waistband of his jeans, and walked to the kitchen. On his way there he noticed that his normally messy living area was neat as a pin. The dishes in the kitchen were cleaned and stacked into a neat pile on the counter. Kakashi pulled out a mug and the coffee tin and filled the dented kettle about halfway because of the aberrant hole just above that point. He waited for the kettle to whistle by walking down the short corridor to the washroom. There, sounds of running water and off-key singing emitted from the door. He knocked, but couldn't be heard over the singing and the water.

A moment later the water stopped and the singing got louder. Kakashi took this opportunity to knock once more. He raised his fist to knock when the bathroom door opened.

"Oh, it's you," Anko smiled, her body wrapped in a ratty towel. "Good morning."

Kakashi was barely able to respond as white puffs of condensation followed her.

"Good morning." He grunted.

Anko walked back down the narrow hallway towards the bedroom. This was when Kakashi noticed that her hair had been cut short, probably with the retractable knife she had last night.

"So, I was wondering if I should try to change my appearance or something. Maybe I should don a disguise until I can get back on the _Snakes'_ side of town, you know?" Anko said regarding the taller man's stare.

She entered the room and closed it behind her, leaving the ex-cop on the not so interesting side of the door.

Meanwhile, the kettle whistled from the kitchen, a couple steps away, so Kakashi opted to fulfill his morning routine and poured himself a hot cup of instant coffee. He blew at the side of his cup before taking a sip. But before he was to take a second swig from his cup, it was taken from him by his overnight flatmate.

"I hope you don't mind, I don't know where the cups are yet." Anko said unapologetically.

Kakashi let her coffee-stealing slide because there was a more important issue to address.

"Are you wearing my clothes?" he croaked. He looked down at what used to be his favourite pair of jeans, now they had about a foot of material hacked off of the pant legs. "Why did you cut up my clothes?"

"Well, considering that you already know that they're your clothes, I won't answer the first question. As for the second question, I cut them up because they didn't fit me. Besides, they were the oldest and ugliest things you had in your closet, apart from the porno mags, so I don't see why you would complain. I'm doing you a favour."

Kakashi's patience was waning, and that was a lot to be said, he was usually the last person to crack under pressure.

At that moment, Anko quelled his violent tendency by announcing that she was going to make breakfast.

"So, what do you want, Hatake?" she said as she filed through drawers and cupboards for ingredients and cookware. "I was thinking that we should have either cereal and fruit smoothie, if you're the healthy type, or ham and cheese BLT if you're not."

"I don't have anything to make those." He admitted sadly, the BLT sounded good.

"Well, I think we have enough here for pancakes. Although, I highly doubt that you have syrup," Anko said as she assessed her ready ingredients before opening the fridge door. "But, you still have some butter, so I guess that would be fine. Oh, and there's some whipped cream here too. Perfect!"

Anko had quickly whipped up a batch of the hotcake batter and was waiting for the pan to heat up. She placed a cube of butter on the Teflon surface and waited until it melted before adding the batter to the pan. Again, she waited until the batter bubbled before flipping it. The one side was a perfect honey-brown hue, cooked to perfection.

Kakashi smiled. It had been a while since he had a woman cook for him at his home. However, he had to shake away that thought. Right now, he was looking at a criminal. He was housing a criminal in his apartment. As an ex-cop-turned-private-investigator, Kakashi knew that Anko Mitarashi was bad news. He could only hope that he could get the information he needed out of her soon.

He took a whiff of the hot n' ready pancakes and decided that he would at least wait until _after_ breakfast.

A/N: I've finally taken the plunge and started with a Kakashi X Anko I got the idea while watching too many actions movies monthes ago. If you squint, you'll be able to see some parallels to the original series. Please tell me what you think of the story so far. Thank you for reading!


	2. Past Sins

**Chapter Two: Past Sins**

By the end of the day, Kakashi was unable to get any information out of the purple-haired woman. She managed to duck his questions and redirect the conversation to a different subject. It was apparent to him that Anko Mitarashi knew everything about him, although it was also apparent to him that he knew nothing about her. In his investigation into Orochimaru, Kakashi hadn't heard of Anko, nor had he seen her in any pictures associated with the _White Snakes_ gang: Orochimaru's henchmen. After dinner, Kakashi had had enough of Anko's avoidance of his questions. He needed answers.

In the bedroom, he sat her down on the mattress while he parked himself across from her on a rickety folding chair.

"We need to talk," Kakashi stated in his most serious voice so that Anko would know that he was serious.

"Oh, you're not going to break up with me, now are you, Kakashi?" Anko grinned, placing a hand over her heart.

"I'm serious, Mitarashi." He scowled.

"I'm serious too, Hatake, don't break my heart now." Anko's smile had a trace of bitterness.

"I want to know who you really are. How do I even know that you're part of the _Snakes_?" he said ignoring her discomfort. "I can't protect you if I don't even know why I'm protecting you. Why has the Akatsuki taken an interest in you?"

"If I tell you that, then it wouldn't be half as fun now would it?"

"Enough of your cryptic jokes, Anko, I need some answers!" Kakashi watched the woman before him with a steady gaze, looking for signs of deceit.

Anko glared back at him stonily.

"If you want answers, you should be nicer." she said.

"I don't have time to be nice right now." His gaze went straight to her tattooed neck. To his knowledge, only Orochimaru's strongest and closest confidants were given that tattoo. "How did you get that mark on you? What did you do to get that?"

Anko self-consciously touched the mark with her finger. Her expression turned sombre as if remembering a painful memory. Gauging Kakashi's personality, she was sure that she could trust him, but her only worry was that he would throw her out if he found out who she really was.

"I was a spy for Orochimaru, that's how I got the tattoo." Anko started. "I got him information about top pharmaceutical companies all around the world so he can blackmail them into dealing with the black-market."

"That's ridiculous!" Kakashi snapped. "Top CEO's would never jeopardize their livelihood by being associated with criminals."

"That's why everything was clandestine, and after every transaction, all evidence would be destroyed; sometimes evidence were people, so, Orochimaru found a way to dispose of them as well." Anko's heart began to beat erratically.

"What did you do exactly?" Kakashi's stoic expression hadn't changed since the beginning of Anko's story.

"I was the bait." She answered. "Men wanted me, and I seduced and led them to their deaths."

Kakashi said nothing.

Anko met his gaze. "Do I disgust you, Kakashi?"

"No," he lied.

"You lie," Anko watched him. "I disgust even myself. How could you not help but hate me? As a former cop, catching criminals like me was your duty. How can you look at me and not feel repulsed for what I've done?"

He found that he couldn't give an answer.

"Do you regret it?" he asked softly, making eye-contact.

"Why do you think I came to you?" she answered his question with one of her own. "Yet, I know that this won't end until I'm dead and in hell with Orochimaru."

Kakashi got up from his seat and pulled Anko up into his arms. He didn't know what possessed him to embrace a woman who admitted to leading men to death, but he felt her pain, and her guilt. Anko clutched his shirt and cried bitterly into his chest. She could barely remember being held like this before. There was one time when her father held her like this when she was a child, but after that she was on her own. Anko pressed her cheek to the warm body against her and closed her eyes, falling asleep; and for the first time feeling completely safe.

Kakashi placed Anko onto the bed and covered her with his blanket. He then sat at his spot in the corner of the room and observed her from across the room. He pulled the gun from his holster and placed it near his hand on the floor as he watched, leaning against the wall like the night before. She wasn't to be trusted. He knew from experience that the most dangerous people looked and acted like the weakest. He wasn't going to be swayed or seduced by Anko. He wasn't ready to die yet.

Sleep consumed him hours later. Meanwhile, Anko had watched him the entire night, through the veil of darkness. She knew that she had limited time left on earth, and she wasn't going to waste it. Kakashi Hatake might be in for more than he was expecting, but she knew that he would be her only hope. Tomorrow, she told herself, he would know everything. Well, almost everything.

XXXX

In the morning, Kakashi had woken up to the sound of clicking. He jumped up from his spot on the floor and made a grab for his gun. He found that it wasn't anywhere near him, it was on the night table near the bed. It meant that, Anko must have taken it while he was asleep. He was known to be a light sleeper, but it seems that Anko possessed exceptional skills. He wasn't going to let his guard down again.

"Oh, you're awake," Anko came back into the room wearing her stiletto-heeled shoes. "I didn't want to wake you; you look so cute when you're asleep."

Anko picked up clothes from the floor.

"I'm doing the laundry, if you have any more clothes you want cleaned, I'll get a cycle done. I'm doing the dark colours first." Anko brushed past him again, her boots clicking on the hardwood floor.

"Why is my gun on the table?"

"About that, I was worried that it might go off while you were sleeping."

"How did you get it from me?"

"I took it from your hand and put on the table." She replied, confused. "You were snoring so loudly, I didn't think that you'd mind."

"I do _not_ snore!" Kakashi interjected.

"Well, you also talk in your sleep." Anko added. "Who are Obito and Rin?"

Kakashi clammed up at the thought of his old friends at the precinct. It was his fault that they died, it was his fault. He started to shake, anger boiled up inside of him.

"They don't concern you." He stated flatly, eyes blazing.

Anko got the message and walked out carrying an armful of dirty clothes. "Well, I'll stay out of your way."

Kakashi stalked out after her and went straight to the bathroom to take a shower.

XXXX

As water fell over his head, old memories started to gnaw at him. He could vividly remember Obito telling him that he shouldn't be captain of the squad just because he got the highest score on the test. Obito had always spouted on and on about how the leader should be the one with the most field experience.

At the time, Kakashi had thought that he had ignored his teammate's words, but they came blasting back when they were doing a routine highway stop. It was a car going at least thirty below the speed limit. The old Toyota looked suspicious. So he had stopped it against Obito's wishes. Obito had said that by the looks of the car, the guy belonged to a gang; either the _Akatsuki_ or the _White Snakes_. But, Kakashi pulled rank over him.

They were still rookies then, so when a big, hulking man of six-foot-three straightened up from his seat, and pulled out a semi, it was Obito who took action as Kakashi froze. Obito managed to push his partner between the squad car and the beat up Toyota and took a shot on the leg. By this time, Obito had pulled out his own gun, took aim and fired shot after shot at the man. This caused the taller man to also jump behind his own vehicle for safety and fire shots at both rookies.

Kakashi finally managed to break out of his shock when he pulled out his own weapon. He took it up and fired, hitting the man in the chest with a single shot. If he had been prepared, he could have managed the feat before his partner was shot. As the man fell back unconscious, Kakashi motioned to stand and noticed that there was a sticky, slick fluid beneath him. Upon closer inspection, he realized that it was blood.

He turned to Obito who was in a prone position. His leg was bleeding heavily. Kakashi hurried to his side and applied pressure to the wound. Obito screamed in agony. By the amount of blood, it looked like the bullet had pierced Obito's femoral artery.

"Damn it, I can't feel the right side of my body." Obito told his partner as he slowly lost consciousness. Kakashi had stripped of his uniform shirt and wrapped it tightly around Obito's wound. He had called for an ambulance minutes before, but he knew that if Obito didn't die that night, the damage would still be irreversible.

Kakashi tried to keep his partner talking, even after seeing the blood quickly soaking through the navy shirt turning it black. Minutes lagged on, feeling like hours.

"Tell me about Rin," Kakashi had known his partner had a huge crush on Rin, the head of the narcotics department at the station.

"Well, she's one hell of a woman, isn't she, Kakashi?" Obito smiled at the thought of his fellow officer. "Pretty too."

"Yeah," Kakashi agreed.

"She agreed to go out with me, you know. Thursday, she said she'd have lunch with me on Thursday."

"Really, I didn't know that you had the guts to even ask her out."

"Oh, I've asked her many times. She just ignores it. But, this time, she'll find out what an awesomely, lovable guy I am and forget all about her stupid crush on you." Obito said confidently. "Damn it, when is the ambulance coming."

"I hear it," Kakashi lied. "It sounds like it's only a block away."

"Good," Obito smiled ruefully. "Do you think that Rin will agree to go to the hospital for our date? Because I'm sure that this bum leg isn't going to heal in two days."

"Rin loves you, Obito." Kakashi said.

"But, she doesn't love me as much as she loves you." Obito had closed his eyes. "But, I love her more than you could ever love someone. That's the one thing I can beat you in any day of the week."

"You're probably right." Kakashi chuckled.

Obito was slowly fading away; his breathing laboured. The ambulance could be heard in the distance. Kakashi watched and listened as his partner spoke fondly about Rin.

"I love you, Rin." Obito said just as the paramedics rushed out of the ambulance.

They quickly put him on a stretcher, and pressed on his wound. They quickly filled out papers and attached O negative blood to him.

But, Kakashi knew that Obito wasn't going to be saved. He wasn't going to be able to go out on a date with Rin, nor was he going to stay in the hospital for very long.

"We're losing him," one medic shouted and started compressing Obito's chest. Up-down, up-down, "Someone get the paddles."

They tried to revive him, but couldn't. Obito was written as DOA: dead on arrival.

Kakashi had followed the ambulance in his squad car. He swallowed the bile in his throat uncomfortably. What was he going to tell Rin, what was he going to tell everybody. It was his fault. It was his fault for stopping the car. It was his fault for freezing; it was his damned fault for letting Obito die.

There had been tapes of the incident. As for normal protocol, he had turned on the dash-cam before exiting his car. Rin had seen it. She watched it unflinchingly at Kakashi's side. She watched even the last moments as Obito admitted his love for her. Only when the two had left the precinct that Rin broke down.

"I'm so stupid, aren't I?" she asked Kakashi, tears carving down her cheeks. "I took him for granted. I never took him seriously because I always thought that he was joking. That he was an idiot."

Kakashi didn't know what to say, so he stayed silent. He stayed silent as the woman before him repeatedly tried to bare her soul to him. He felt a distinct detachment to her now. He couldn't feel any emotion. He couldn't even hold Rin in his arms for comfort. She's Obito's girl and forever will be.

Rin looked up at him, at his stoic gaze and grim expression.

"I love you, Kakashi." She told him. "But you don't love me, do you?"

"Not the way that Obito loved you." Kakashi admitted. "He'll always love you more, even after death."

Rin sobbed even louder.

"I was afraid of that." She stated softly.

Rin turned away from Kakashi, more broken-hearted than she thought she ever could be.

That was the last time that Kakashi had seen the beautiful Rin alive. The next he'd heard that she had died in a gun showdown in a back alleyway with the _White Snakes_. Other officers called her a stupid woman for trying to take down an entire organization by herself. But, Kakashi knew that what Rin wanted wasn't revenge, she wanted love. He was certain that if he had only said that he loved her, she wouldn't have gone after the gang that killed Obito. Rin was looking for pieces of her heart. She'd foolishly though that Obito left it with the _White Snakes_ and went to get it back.

Well, she got it back, but at a price.

XXXX

Anko was wondering what was taking Kakashi so long in the bathroom. She had still yet to take a shower, and would have really wanted one. She knocked loudly on the door but there was no response.

"Kakashi, are you alright?" she asked from behind the door.

Yet, still there was no reply.

She took a pin from her hair and picked the lock with ease. She slowly swung the door open and found the shower curtain still closed around the bathtub and the shower still running. She cautiously walked to the tub and drew back the plastic curtains.

She found Kakashi sitting at the bottom of the tub his legs bent up at his knees, his arms hanging from the top of his knees and his eyes stared blankly at the ceramic wall. His cheeks bore tracks of either water or tears, Anko didn't know.

Anko turned off the water. She grabbed a towel from a closet and draped it around the now shivering man. He had been under the water, which had since gone cold, for almost a couple hours now.

"What's wrong?" she asked him.

He kept silent.

Anko entered the tub behind him and proceeded to lift him up. He stood easily enough, although his body still shook. She wrapped the towel draped over his shoulders around his waist. She took him to the bed room, laid him down on the bed and plied him with blankets.

"Sleep," she whispered in his ear. "I'll be right here when you wake up."

Beneath the blankets he still shook, so Anko wrapped her arms around his larger body to share her body heat. Minutes later, she could hear his soft snoring, indicating that he was asleep. Anko tried to pull away, but his arms were tightly locked around her; his cheek seeking the warmth of her neck. It didn't take long before sleep claimed her as well.

So, she wasn't able to tell him everything today. Maybe there'd be tomorrow for her and for him too.

A/N:

I would just like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! And I know that this chapter doesn't really inspire a lot of Christmas Holiday cheer, but I hope that you continue your fabulous support. Also note that I will be changing the rating for this story to "M" just to be safe. Please Review.


	3. Down the Rabbit Hole

**Chapter Three: Down the Rabbit Hole**

"So, have you found her yet?" Kabuto asked his henchmen. Since Orochimaru's death, he was given the honour of heading the entire 'business' until there was a more suitable candidate to take over. But, just like a Hydra from Greek mythology, when one head was cut off from power, there would be another one waiting in the wings to take over. And he, Kabuto Yakushi, was the new leader, and he was determined to stay in control. After all, he was the one who helped get rid of Orochimaru.

He stood up from his desk and looked outside his window to a panoramic view of the city's waterfront from thirteen stories up. There were times when he felt like he was at the top of the world. When the realized that his knowledge in the medical field would allow him to not only save lives but destroy it, he had willingly joined the higher ranks of the _White Snakes_, courtesy of Orochimaru.

But, now, he had one small problem that could potentially become a big problem at hand. Anko was missing. Kabuto had searched everywhere in the _Snakes_ territory of Konoha, but found not a shred of her. The only place not searched was the _Akatsuki_'s territory. He was certain that Anko was going to be found dead in the next few days if she stayed in the opposing gang's side of town, yet, he wasn't able to rest until he found her or saw her dead body himself. She was the only one who knew of his plans from the beginning and she had something he needed if he wanted to beat out the _Akatsuki_ once and for all. Being the organization's spy, he didn't think twice about her changing allegiance, but now that she had gone up and left, his entire plan was in danger.

The phone at his side rang. He quickly took it up and answered with a solemn hello.

"Did you find her?" he asked after realizing who it was.

He received a curt 'no' before he angrily hung up the receiver.

He had to kill Anko or suffer the consequences.

XXXX

Kakashi woke with his arms wrapped around warm flesh. He almost stumbled from his bed in shock when he realized that it was Anko. He pulled away from the tangle of blankets only to find out that he was stark naked. What had this woman done to him? For a moment, he couldn't remember what had happened the night before. But when he did, he was extremely embarrassed. He was never so vulnerable in front of a woman before. Actually, he'd never shown his weaknesses to anyone. Anko Mitarashi had him spooked. She was making him feel a rollercoaster of emotions, and not all of them were emotions that should be felt by a cop for a criminal. He watched as she stretched on the bed, kicking off the tangled ball of blankets to the floor. She gave a small grunt as she cracked a few bones into place before opening her eyes.

"So, how was I?" she asked him, teasingly, smiling at him. "You were my best ever."

Kakashi found himself flustered at the comment. He only had a second to cover himself with a discarded towel before he walked out of the room. Once outside, he paced the short kitchen and living area in six quick steps. Anko only followed him out, grinning at the fact that she had made him uncomfortable in his own home.

"Why do you always joke about serious things?" he asked her. "I just want to know what you want to tell me so you can go."

"It's my defence mechanism against life, I guess." She answered. "I've had to deal with a lot of evil and bad things in my life, and the only thing that made it bearable was the thought that it was all a joke, a comedy act."

Kakashi faced her with serious intent. "Will you tell me now what I need to know to find Kabuto?"

"Even if I did tell you exactly where he was this instant, you would still need my help to get in." She told him. "He's the new head-honcho. It'll take you more than your gun to bring him down. You'll need me."

"I don't usually work with a partner," he stated brusquely, "Especially with a woman."

"Well, you'll have no choice but to work with me, because it will get a lot harder now that there's a gang war brewing. Everyone in Konoha knows that the _Akatsuki _and the _White Snakes_ are vicious turf hogs; even they won't stop at nothing to expand their territory." Anko said mildly.

"I don't get what you're saying." Kakashi found himself confused, the woman before him just uttered complete nonsense to confuse him, he was sure of it. What was the point in stating the fact? That's what the police were trying to stop: the gang wars. They were hoping that with the apparent death of Orochimaru, the _Snakes_ would fall apart, but they didn't. They only got stronger.

"I'm saying that you can't beat them by yourself. Why did you think that I came to you? I would be more than capable to beat them myself if that was what opportunity allowed, but I know for a fact that it would be next to impossible to stop both gangs. We have to pit one against another, that's the only way to beat them."

"How do you suppose we do that?"

"You give them incentive. If you have something they want from you, they won't kill you."

"And when they get what they want from you?" Kakashi asked her.

"They'll kill you." She replied stonily. "And you disappear as if you were erased from history."

Kakashi stayed silent, there was no point in fighting the fact. There was no point in trying to pretend that there was an alternative.

"What do you want from me?" He asked her again.

"I need mercenaries. Do you think that it will just be the two of us fighting? Pein, the leader of the _Akatsuki_ would be able to take us out with a single bullet; nevermind, the rest of the gang." Anko asked him. "Do you know anyone? Because I have money, but Kabuto probably froze my accounts when he found out about my escape. But, as for right now, they're secretly wiring money to my Swiss Bank account. And only Orochimaru knew about that account."

"Yeah, I know a lot more than someone, I know about a resistance group. You probably wouldn't have to pay them; their mission is to stop the gang wars anyway."

"Are they good enough, you think?" Anko eyed him.

"They're the best." He said without hesitation.

"Thank you, Kakashi. You won't have to deal with me after this. I'll be leaving soon." Anko promised.

For a moment, the thought that she wasn't going to stay struck a bitter chord with him. He quickly admonished the thought with cruel discipline. Now wasn't the time to think that the criminal before him looked cute with her big, brown eyes and mangled, purple hair.

"So, does that mean that you don't want to come with me to meet them?" he asked her.

"Is it safe for me to leave the apartment in the daylight, you think?" Anko asked him.

"Who said that we were leaving through the front door?" he smiled at her. "I was thinking that we should take the tunnels."

"What tunnels?" she asked him, her eyes hard with curiosity.

"I was talking about the tunnels underground that the resistance created years ago. It could get a little tight, but we should be able to get to the next safe house without a problem." Kakashi explained. "Besides, we still have to persuade them to join our cause. It should be easy, but some of them can be a little hard to persuade."

"I don't get it? Didn't you say that they'd be happy to shut down the _White Snakes_ and the _Akatsuki_?" Anko asked perturbed.

"Yes, but they already have their own plans set; they might not want to do it your way. Also, they might want to kill you for being an ex-_Snakes_ member."

Anko looked dubiously after he voiced his plan. Why would she willingly volunteer to go to some resistance hideout when it was filled with people who want to kill her?

Kakashi saw her look and stared into her eyes.

"I won't let them hurt you," He told her.

"Are you sure you won't join them in the witch hunt?" Anko asked him. "Because, I don't think that I'll be able to take an entire resistance army out by myself."

"We had an agreement, right?" Kakashi affirmed her. "Be ready by nightfall."

"I'm always ready." Anko answered.

XXXX

The moment night fell, it let loose all the bad and evils of Konoha. Gangs were on their way to their nightly run, the dirty cops were on patrol at strategic corners to run dealings with the other side, and other unsavoury characters emerged from all walks of the city. But, as there is evil, balance calls for the good as well.

It was only here that the good guys had to hide. They sneaked and crawled and swiftly moved to their designated sanctuary. Like soldiers on a mission they did it quickly and efficiently.

Kakashi pulled Anko alongside him. There was only a small window of opportunity for them to get to the tunnels, and the corner that Kakashi's apartment was on was littered with Konoha's baddies. The couple walked briskly down the street.

"Hey, who're you?" one man yelled at them from across the street, pointing at Anko. "I've never seen her around here before."

Kakashi was forced to stop. He blocked the man from getting a clear view of Anko by pushing her behind him.

The man had a gun in his hand, it was obvious that the safety was off and the man was impaired. The only way out was if he could tell a story plausible enough for a drunkard to understand. The man was wearing a black t-shirt and worn jeans and a perverted smirk to match that Kakashi didn't care for.

"She's mine," he replied to the man's earlier question.

"She's not bad looking, Hatake," it was obvious, that Kakashi had arrested this guy before. That was the only way the man could know his name. He tried to think of the man's name but drew a blank.

"Yeah, and that's why I don't want you eying her like that." He answered.

"Are you sure you don't want to share her?" the man lifted the hand holding the gun.

"You know, I don't share," Kakashi pulled Anko to his side and wrapped a protective arm around her waist.

"Aw, come on, Hatake, don't be such a prude, there are lots of others like her around here." The man took a closer step, still leering at a silent Anko.

"She's not a prostitute," Kakashi stated, feeling affronted at the suggestion that Anko was a whore.

"Prove to me that she isn't, then." The drunkard pointed his gun up and pulled the trigger. The bullet hit a steel overhang with a ping and ricocheted down the alley.

Eyes flashing in alertness, Kakashi asked the man how he could prove that Anko wasn't a street woman.

"Well, there are two ways," The man said with a perverse grin. "One way is to let me sleep with her—"

"No," the steel in the ex-cop's voice could have pierced armour.

"I knew you wouldn't go for that one." The man laughed at Kakashi's seriousness. "The other way is if you kiss her. I've been married before, I know what a woman in love looks like and what a woman who only wants money looks like." The convict announced. "Go on, Hatake, kiss her or I will."

The man pointed his gun at the couple.

Kakashi wasn't going to put up with such an outrageous request and from a gun wielding drunkard nonetheless.

"I don't have to prove anything to you."

The next shot whizzed by his right ear, it appeared that the man before him wasn't as impaired as he let on.

"Just do it, Kakashi." Anko whispered in his ear. "It's getting darker; we have to get to sanctuary."

She might be ready to kiss him, but he wasn't ready to kiss her. He wasn't even sure what he felt for her yet. And he knew that kissing Anko Mitarashi would make his plans even more complicated.

He turned to the woman at his side before taking a second to glace back that the man making him do this in the first place. In his entire career as a cop, he thought he'd seen and experienced everything. He'd been forced to do a lot of things at gun point, but never had he been forced to kiss a woman before.

"Yeah, so what'll it be?" The man asked. "Because if she's not yours, I can just shoot you and take her myself. The only reason why I'm giving you a chance now, Hatake, is because you gave me a chance before."

At the statement, Kakashi immediately remembered who that man before him was. The man's name was Kankuro; a kid who was in and out of juvy most of his teens. Kakashi had written a report on behalf of the kid when the prosecutor wanted to try Kankuro as an adult in an assault charge. The judge, Iruka Umino, had lessened the sentence from three years in jail to one year probation.

"Well, look at where that favour brought me," Kakashi mumbled under his breath.

"Yeah, and after this, Hatake, we'll be square." Kankuro wobbled a bit in his drunkenness. "Unless I forget, that is."

Kakashi watched and waited for an opening to pull out his own gun.

"Okay," he said as he pulled Anko closer to him. "I'll show you what a woman in love looks like."

When his lips were only a breath away from Anko's, Kakashi drew his gun from his pocket. He aimed and pointed it toward his target. He would have shot the gun from Kankuro's hand if Anko hadn't pressed her lips to his. With and electric zap to his senses, he froze in place. He felt he had no choice but to give into her seduction. He reached up to touch her unruly hair. His mouth sought hers with longing and near desperation.

It was a thump and groan that brought him back to his senses. Kakashi turned towards the noise. He found Kankuro on the ground, the younger man's gun roughly five feet away from the body.

Anko pushed away from Kakashi to straighten her coat, she walked past Kankuro's unconscious, prone body to his gun and pulled her pocket knife from the gun's barrel.

"How'd you do that?" Kakashi asked in wonder.

"I knew where to aim," Anko shrugged. "Why did you kiss me anyway? You didn't have to."

Kakashi quickly denied her. "You were the one who kissed me!"

Anko only smiled and pocketed her weapon. She breezed by the ex-cop, her trench coat swished passed by her heeled boots.

She ignored his rebuff with a shrug.

"Just don't fall in love with me, Hatake." Anko announced. "That guy isn't the only one who can tell when a person's falling in love."

"I don't love you," Kakashi was almost belligerent.

"We'll see," Anko nodded matter-of-factly. "Let's just get to your friends already."

XXXX

The twosome travelled quickly through the darkened streets, careful to avoid other confrontations. Kakashi made sure to keep Anko close. His mission was to protect her, and he wasn't going to fail in that mission. Anko watched Kakashi's concentrated features as he scanned the empty ally for any evidence of life. He then grabbed her hand and pulled her toward a decrepit building covered in caution tape. There was a faded eviction notice staple-gunned to the cracked oaked doors. The glass windows were broken and the window sills mouldy with decay.

Kakashi only pulled her through beyond the notice and caution tape and through a narrow hallway. The entire interior of the house was a mess. Water from faulty pipes dripped from stained walls, and dust, dirt and weeds covered the floor. There was an old boot that caught some of the water from the ceiling in its sole.

"Where are we?" Anko asked the man tugging her toward a spot which she guessed used to be a closet. Its door was rust and moss coloured and she could practically smell the mildew off of its rotting surface.

"Just get in," Kakashi brought her close to him and opened the rotting door. Anko was sure that it wouldn't take too much more effort to pull the door out on its hinges.

Beyond the door was a solid oak panel littered with graffiti glorifying gangs and obscenities. Kakashi only swept his eyes over it no more than a moment and brought his fingers to the corner end of one panel where it met another one just as badly treated. The tiny closet smelled of urine and dirt. Kakashi managed to stick his fingers in between the mitred corner and bring the panel off the wall by a few inches. Anko craned her neck to see what was behind the panel and was surprised to see that there was a tunnel that her ex-cop companion had told her about before.

"Let's go, we have to hurry." He told her stonily. "Just keep crawling forward until the tunnel comes to an end; don't stop. Then, when you reach the end wall knock once and only once, do you hear?"

"Yes," she replied solemnly letting the seriousness of his words fill the room. "I understand."

Anko then brought herself into a squat position so she could manoeuvre her body to fit through the panels. Once she was inside, she heard Kakashi bring the board to the hole once more, she couldn't turn around anymore because of the small size of the tunnel. She wanted to ask why Kakashi didn't come with her, but felt that all she could do was trust his words.

So, Anko crawled forward on her hands and knees scraping against the muddy and sometimes rocky floor. At points she was scared that the tunnel was getting too tight and she would die in its flimsy walls. But, knowing that she was a walking corpse anyway, she soldiered on. Whether she died here or in the hands of rival gangs or even with the resistance, she knew that her time was numbered.

It was a pity that she couldn't at least have felt what it was like to be alive. She wasn't able to feel what it was like to truly be happy. She had always settled for the bare minimum and tell herself that at least it wasn't worst than it actually was, but now, knowing that she wasn't going to live for much longer, it made her want to take whatever was left of time and do one thing she'd always wanted to do.

So, in the darkness of the mud-walled tunnel, she promised herself that she would not die until she had felt what it was like to be truly alive: to not settle for the mediocre, but to attain the best. Minutes passed by quickly and soon, she was sure at least an hour, and still she was stuck in darkness. Yet, she knew that if she stopped, it would mean her death. She had to survive if she wanted to live. The air was dingy and stale, but it still contained oxygen. A few more paces and she finally reached the end of the tunnel. She brought forward a shaky hand and blistered knuckles to knock at the wooden wallboard before her. Her weakened state only produced a soft click, but she couldn't bear to knock again after Kakashi had specifically told her to only knock once. So she waited for a response.

She held her breath in anticipation and exhaled in disappointment when nothing happened. She couldn't turn away, so, she would have to crawl backwards all the way if she wanted out. Then she heard a noise from behind her. Nerves prickled down her back and an acute sense of fear filled her. Anko knew that she was a sitting target.

Suddenly the wall before her opened up in a bright light that she was forced to shy away from and strong hands pulled her forward with ease. When her eyes were able to adjust to the light, she realized that she was in a room full of people whose faces didn't look familiar to her at all. Then, Kakashi emerged from the tunnel that she had just emerged from.

"You move fast, Anko." He told her. "There was someone tailing us, and it took me a while to lose him, but by the time I got back to the tunnel, you were long gone."

"I only followed your orders, Captain," she said gaining her voice.

She didn't know why she was so happy to see Kakashi safe and sound. At the back of her mind, she had wondered what had happened to him, but she had refused to think of the anxiety she felt for him when he wasn't at her side; it wasn't convenient or practical to have such feelings at the moment.

Anko approached Kakashi with much apprehension and pulled him to her. Her arms entwined him. His shocked expression as she pressed her cheek against his quickly beating heart brought a grin to her face.

"Thank God, your safe," she whispered through the fabric of his shirt, as she held him close.

The strangers in the room watched the drama with great interest.

"So, Kakashi, whose the stray?" a dark-haired woman with crimson eyes asked of the silver-haired man.

"She's one of the _Snakes_," another stranger, cigarette in mouth, said pointing a gun to Anko's face. "Look at her tattoo."

"Kurenai, Asuma, it's alright." Kakashi managed to push Anko away from him to address his comrades. "She's here to help."

"Yeah, to help herself," A blonde woman cradling a baby in her arms retorted. "Right, Shikamaru?"

"Not necessarily, Ino," the man, whom Anko assumed was Shikamaru replied. "She has nowhere to go. If she helps us, then she at least buys herself a little more time before her demise."

"Now, the two of you, knock it off." A tall, blue-eyed man came forward. "Any friend of Kakashi is a friend of the resistance. Those are the terms of our agreement with, Kakashi-sensei."

Blue-eyes then approached Anko with a grin and a hand pointed out to shake.

"How do you do, ma'am?" He announced. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, son of the fourth president of Konoha. So, you'd probably already know my life story."

Anko hesitated before taking the younger man's hand. She gave a firm handshake out of habit, and the man's grin only widened with pleasure. "What's your name?"

"I'm Mitarashi Anko, ex-spy for the _White Snakes_." She answered. "So, you probably don't know my life story."

Naruto laughed loudly, his large frame shook as his hand still held Anko's captive.

"I like you already, Mitarashi-san." He voiced. "You'd make a great addition to the resistance. Thank you for joining."

"You're welcome, Uzumaki-san, but please call me Anko."

"Okay, but call me Naruto. Only employees call me Uzumaki-san." The seventh president of Konoha let go of Anko's hand and turned to Kakashi who watched the exchange protectively at Anko's side. "You're already in love with her, aren't you, Kakashi-sensei?"

A/N:

Again, and must apologize for the long wait. I just haven't had as much time to write as I want to. But, please don't count me out yet; I will finish this story as well as Windy Days. I am almost done with Windy Days's next chapter, but I just don't have the time right now to write it. Since I'm getting more reviews for this story, I thought that should finish this one first. So, please enjoy, as I have writing this chapter. I'm looking forward to see what you, the reader, think of this chapter. Feel free to make a guess as to what will happen next, but I don't think anyone will. Until next time, then.


	4. Comfort

**Chapter Four: Comfort**

The days spent in the resistance's underground hideaway were more than a haven, more than a sanctuary. It was a home, something Anko wasn't familiar with. She had faint memories of being held as a child, but the rest were a blur. As she sat on a plush sectional in the living area, she watched the blonde woman she had learned was named Ino, rock a tiny dark-haired, brown-eyed baby to sleep. The baby's eyes started to flutter close until it didn't open anymore. Ino then sat in the wing backed chair across from Anko.

"Why are you here, anyway?" The nosy blonde asked of the purple-haired woman before her.

"I'm here to help your cause." Anko tore her gaze from the baby to look into the suspicious blue eyes of her interviewer.

"How can you help us?" Ino glared. "What makes you special?"

"There's nothing special about me, in fact, that's why I was one of Orochimaru's most trusted henchmen; nobody noticed me. But, the fact is by not being noticed, I know information that can help you break apart the _White Snakes_' drug ring."

"Shikamaru said that the _Akatsuki_ is after you too." Ino stated. "You know, for someone who doesn't look like much, you create a lot of trouble."

"That's the same thing that they say about the ocean on a sunny day." Anko mused.

Ino looked away before staring intently at a corner of the room. Anko watched the blonde woman kiss the child's tiny head. A twinge of bitterness stuck her and took her by surprise. She was jealous of the baby in Ino's arms, Anko never knew her mother. She couldn't remember the woman who gave birth to her just as she couldn't remember being held in caring arms as a child. All she knew was how to survive and to use her talents to her advantage.

Ino drew her out of her musings by coughing inconspicuously.

"What?" Anko asked the blonde.

"I just wanted you to know that if you hurt Kakashi-sensei in any way, I'll personally put you on my hit-list. You won't only need to worry about the _Snakes_ and the _Akatsuki_ after you, all you'll also have to worry about getting your head physically out of your ass." Ino stated in a saccharine tone.

Anko laughed in response to the threat and leaned back into her seat.

"I'm not going to hurt him," she said lightly. "Only he can hurt himself. Just tell him not to go looking for love from a dead woman."

"Kakashi Hatake, fall in love? Ha!" Ino announced. "Now, that's something I'd like to see! Kakashi's never fallen in love with anyone. Every time I see him, he's had a different woman with him. With his manly good looks, I wouldn't be surprised if he's only helping you out of pity. He's always had a soft spot for helpless women."

Anko felt a sharp pain in her chest. It wasn't so much as pain as it was an uncomfortable emotion.

"I'm not helpless," Anko stated grimly.

"You have two of the deadliest rival gangs after you," Ino started. "I'd say that that would make you one of the most helpless women in, if not the world, then Konoha at least."

Anko felt the urge to pummel the blonde with her bare fists until it bloodied, but found that the child in Ino's arms deserved the mother that she never had. So, she stamped down the murderous thought.

"Why did you choose, Shikamaru?" Anko voiced a question she'd had since she found out that Ino had married Shikamaru.

"I had to settle for someone, didn't I?" Ino remarked jokingly before bashfully admitting, "He was the only one who asked, that's why. All my life, I'd been looked, stared, and leered at because of how I look, but no man had ever simply asked me out. So, I told myself that the first man to ask me out, I'd take it as a sign and say yes. I'm happy to say that Shikamaru was that man, even if it took him two years with the resistance before he did."

Anko smiled at the simplicity of the fact. Back on the _Snakes_' side of town, women who looked like Ino were considered unattainable beauties. Women who looked as flirty and voluptuous as the blonde before her would have had her pick over any man. But, here was the blue-eyed mother in a resistance headquarters married to one of the most ordinary-looking men Anko had ever seen. It gave her hope that the near-impossible could happen, even to someone as unfortunate as herself. Maybe she'd live through this ordeal.

"How about the others, what's their story?" Anko asked the blonde. She was sure that Ino was the one who knew all the goings-on in the household.

"Well, Naruto is the leader, of course. Shikamaru is our strategist. Asuma and Kurenai are our resident gatekeepers. You don't know how many people stumble into the tunnels and end up here. Kurenai is trained in hypnosis and she suppresses their memories of ever being here. Asuma is a shoot-first-ask-questions-later kind of guy so I was sort of surprised why he didn't shoot you when he first saw that tattoo on your neck." Ino rambled as Anko filed away all the information in case she ever needed them. "And the other guys are the soldiers, every single one of them has a skill to contribute."

Anko angled herself on her spot on the sectional to better hear and face Ino.

"What about Kakashi, what does he do?" she asked the blonde.

"He's our spy," Ino smiled, knowing of the irony Anko was feeling, "And a damn good one too."

"Sometimes I ask myself, what I have gotten myself into." Anko stated. "I ask why I went to Kakashi for help in the first place. I ask why I couldn't just die like I was supposed to and have everything I was erased. But, I find no answers."

"I think that you were meant to go to Kakashi. I don't believe in coincidences, everything happens for a reason." Ino replied. "You might not put too much worth on your life, hell, even I don't think too much of you, but, for some reason, Kakashi does. He values your life. So I guess, if you don't want to seem like a total ass, you should too."

"But, I don't deserve any redemption for what I've done," Anko whispered, distressed.

"Then who does?" Ino asked. "Everyone in this place has killed, everyone here has sinned, and everyone here has made mistakes. But, were the only defence against this corrupt world."

Anko nodded in understanding. Ino was more than a dumb blonde, this was a woman who captured the heart of a man with a 200-plus IQ. And Anko just realized that Ino might just be right. She sat silently until other women of the resistance filed into the room.

XXXX

"Hey, Ino," one of the women asked. "Who's she?"

Anko watched as a brunette with long, braided hair sat down in a chair across from her. The brunette only picked up one of the braids and wound it around and around to form a bun at the side of her head. She then placed an elastic band around the mass of hair to set it in place. She repeated the process with the other braid until she had a twin of the bun on the other side of her head.

"That's Anko, an ex-spy for the _White Snakes_." Ino answered nonchalantly as she played with her baby's tuff of hair. "Oh, and Anko, this is Tenten, she's our weapons master. She's in charge of all our weapons, be it a .45 or a bazooka, Tenten knows her stuff."

"So much for divulging all our secrets to a stranger all in one go, Ino." Tenten retorted.

"She's with Kakashi, so she's solid." Ino shrugged.

Tenten seemed to take the statement into consideration. A pink-haired woman sat on a settee adjacent to Ino's chair and offered everyone a cup of tea.

When the tea was served, she introduced herself as Sakura Haruno, the resistance medic.

"I am curious why Kakashi-sensei would bring such an odd person to our hideout." Sakura mused. "But, I'm sure that everything will come out when the time comes."

Anko watched as Ino turned her head to the side towards the door.

"Hinata, you can come in, you know." Ino beckoned to the woman who stayed standing by the door.

"I didn't want to intrude, so I—" the woman broke off.

"Just sit down, Hinata, and introduced yourself to Anko here." Tenten announced.

"I'm Hinata Hyuga," The pale-skinned woman bowed politely.

"Yeah, Hinata here is a princess," Tenten voiced. "Her family is one of the richest in the world, and her cousin, Neji is president of the most successful real estate company in Konoha."

"Why is she here?" Anko asked in wonder.

"Hinata, Neji and Ino are the surveillance team, of course." Sakura explained. "What's a better way to keep tabs on your mark than to have legit people watching them from their own social circle?"

Anko couldn't believe how prepared these people were. They had a medic, a couple of reconnaissance agents, and a weapons master all in one room, and to make it even more baffling, they were all women. Looking back to the door, Anko noticed one more woman loitering just inside, watching her intently with an expression of great irritation.

"And who is that woman over there?" Anko asked Ino.

"I'm Temari. I'm the driver and air craft controller. I can drive anything from cars to submarines to rockets." The staid woman answered the question.

Anko watched with great discomfort as the woman called Temari honed in on her with piercing dark eyes and made her way to her seat. Sakura passed the sandy-blonde woman a cup of tea before both sat down on the settee side by side. Silence filled the room with so many unanswered questions and great tension. When the tension was about to take its course and explode, Ino's baby had awoken and had started to cry loudly. Ino, groped for a nearby bottle, but only came up with an empty one.

"Here, Anko, hold him for a minute while I get more formula," Ino hurriedly passed the child to an anxious Anko.

"But, I don't think—" Anko halted her words when the bundle of tears was placed in her arms.

The first thing she noticed was how tiny the baby was and how vulnerable he seemed with tears streaming down its reddened face and mouth wide open crying out for comfort. Anko gave the women around her a pleading look as if to ask for help but they only watched her with mild attention. Anko had no choice but to try to settle the baby down on her own. She stood up from her spot on the couch and held the baby to her chest. She only did what felt so natural to her now. The baby looked at her with watery eyes and continued to cry.

"You're mama's gonna be back soon, baby, just wait it out for a bit, okay?" she asked the little tyke.

She rocked the kid in her arms and started to hum songs she'd heard on the radio. The infant seemed to respond to the humming so it started to stare at her. She only smiled widely, happy that he'd stop crying. She continued to rock and hum until Ino came back into the room with a warm bottle handy.

"Thanks Anko, you did great." The child's mom complimented. "You're a natural."

When Anko looked around to the other women in the room, all of them were smiling at her.

"What's going on here?" Anko handed the child back to its mother and stepped away from the suspicious smiles. "Why are all of you looking at me like that?"

It was then that Naruto came into the room. "You passed, Anko, congratulations!"

"Passed what?" Anko asked completely confused.

"You passed our _can-we-trust-her-or-not_ test." Sakura piped up. "Psychologically, a good person would try to comfort a helpless being, thus showing selflessness. But, a manipulative and evil person's first instinct would be to get the burden off of her and try to pass off the troubles to someone else, showing that she only cares about her own comfort."

Anko stared wordlessly at the strange group of people wondering what she had gotten herself into by agreeing to come here. She turned her gaze to Kakashi, who had silently watched the whole ordeal with a stoic façade.

Naruto then announced that dinner was to be served in the dining room. So, one by one, everyone filed out to make their way to eat. Dinner was filled with conversations in politics, ethics, and a slew of other subjects. The only subject not covered that night was about what the resistance's next move was and how Anko equated into their plans. It seemed to be a silent agreement to all that there would be no work discussed during the meal.

For the first time in a long time, Anko was able to forget who she was for a minute. She was able to talk as she would talk to a best friend. Kurenai even agreed to fix the job she did on her hair and Ino offered to lend her some clothes. All the while, Kakashi stayed in the back of her mind. She couldn't wait until she could get him alone again. She would tell him everything he needed to know about the _White Snakes_ and hopefully, he'll still want her around after that. Maybe, she'd finally found a family with these people around her. Maybe she'd be able to live a normal life one day. Maybe she can hope once more in having her dream come true.

A/N:

Thank you for reading this chapter. I am glad that you still choose to continue with me through this project. I apologize for the long wait and the short chapter, but I felt that I had to spend more time writing 'Windy Days'. If you want to read more about Kakashi, and a little, little bit more of Anko, the latest chapter of 'Windy Days' delves into their characterization. Although, just to warn you, the chapter is Kakashi centric. As for Target, I do have an outline for the next chapter done, but I don't know when I'll have the time to write it. I think that it will be well after Easter that I'll have that chance. I know that fans of this story are intrigued, and I just want to keep it that way. I pray that I'll have more time to write in the coming months. I just have a lot of work to do right now and events to plan. But, one thing's for sure, I've missed writing terribly. Thank you for your outstanding support and commitment to this story. It has inspired my own commitment to it. Until next time, then...


	5. Only the Divine

**Chapter Five: Only the Divine**

Kakashi had good days and he also had bad ones, but days with Anko were an intoxicating mix of both. When he had seen Shikamaru's boy in Anko's arms he had felt both pleasure and pain: pleasure in knowing that Anko was a natural with children and pain in the fact that there was a very slim chance that she'd make it out of Konoha alive. He had gotten word from his informant that Kabuto was looking for Anko. It meant that if she stepped into _Snakes_ territory, she'd be dead in a second. Shikamaru and the others were already wary of his decision in bringing her to their sanctuary, but he had to prove to himself that he didn't need Anko for anything more than the information she was carrying. He'd tried to prove it by not responding to her, but failed.

And then after dinner, she had asked to speak with him. He wanted to decline her offer and give her a bullshit reason to get her off his back, but found that he had no resistance to her. Where he'd expect a woman to get angry, she'd smile and act nonchalant and where he expected her to say something she'd just go on her merry way and ignore him.

Anko Mitarashi was a paradox he couldn't decipher. Kakashi felt like he had no choice but to go to her, follow her, guide her, be with her at all times. Naruto would describe it as falling in love, Shikamaru would say it was stupid, but he had no words to explain it apart from a calling. Anko was calling him and he was desperate to answer her.

"I need to tell you who I really am," she whispered in his ear as they stood outside the dining hall. "Come to my room at nine."

She paused and watched the strange expression transform his usually serious face.

"I'm not going to have sex with you." She stated. "I don't sleep with men I like."

Kakashi almost watched her saunter away, but decided to get the best of her at the last minute. The words he said weren't the words he had planned on saying, but they came out of him nonetheless.

"I don't like you." He stated, voice rough with emotion. "I love you."

Anko turned to face him so quickly that he was surprised she didn't get a whiplash. She moved toward him, sadness filled her expression and saturated her eyes. She raised her hand and brought it to his cheek with a resounding slap. The fear in her demeanour shocked him.

"How could you say that to me when you know I'm a dead woman?" she asked him, her sorrowful, frightened eyes bore into his. She brought a fist down on his chest in vicious fury. "I can't love you! Damn you, Kakashi."

His reddened cheek didn't hurt him as much as her words did.

"You're not dead yet, Anko," he answered slowly, seeing his mistake. He should have waited. "And I did tell you that I wasn't going to let that happen."

Anko realizing that she had lost her control, immediately schooled her expression to neutral. Her voice came out in even tones.

"I'm sorry Kakashi, but I don't feel the same way for you." Her eyes were piercing, frozen ice now. "I like you, but I could never love you, at least not in this situation. So, I think that it would be best if we stop these feelings now before it moves on any further, okay?"

Kakashi covered his feeling of rejection with a solemn smile. "I understand."

"Good, I'll see you at nine then." Anko smiled back, the pain in her eyes only evident to Kakashi. "Don't forget."

This time she walked away, he watched her turn to the stairs towards Kurenai and Asuma's room to get her hair cut. Kakashi rubbed a hand over his face. What had he done? _What had he done?_

XXXX

Anko walked to Kurenai's room and knocked three times in rapid succession. The other woman opened the door for her and ushered her in. Anko refused to shed a tear, but her emotions were still murky. She so badly wanted to fall, her limbs were heavy weights.

Kurenai took her arm and took her to the bedroom and sat her in an antique chair in front of the vanity.

"Tell me what's going on, Anko," the dark-haired beauty asked the distraught woman before her.

"He ruined everything," Anko finally let the tears fall.

"What did he do?" Kurenai started to inspect Anko for injuries. "Damn it, Kakashi!"

Anko shook her head. Her tears flowed down her cheeks decreasing the pressure in her chest.

"He said that he loves me." Anko said dazed.

"He what?" Kurenai exclaimed.

"Loves..." Anko trailed off.

Kurenai completely understood Anko's position and kept silent.

"I don't want hope for too much. My whole life I only wanted to fit in. To have a family like you guys here at the resistance. I knew that Kakashi is attracted to me, heck I won't deny that I'm attracted to him, but I thought that we'd just have sex and be done with it. That's all that men want right? You give in to them and they do what you want for a bit and then they leave." Anko wiped at her cheeks. "But, if I sleep with him now, there'd be emotions involved. There would be more, and I can't handle more knowing that one day I won't be there or that he won't be there with me."

"Just don't give up too soon," Kurenai answered. "Men who say that they sincerely love you are strong men who would give you everything. I say, don't do anything reckless; take your time to learn to love him. Don't worry about your circumstance or death, just worry about the present. Worry about living life fully."

"I don't understand." Anko looked up at Kurenai questioningly.

"Don't roll around in the sack with him until you're sure, because guys like Kakashi only love once." Kurenai explained. "It's a pity though that he chose now of all times to fall in love. But, then again, who am I to talk. I also fell in love during war time."

Kurenai looked over to a framed picture of her and Asuma on the vanity.

"What do you mean that guys like Kakashi only fall in love once?"

"He's never been in love before. Sure, he has a heart of gold and helps out every poor soul who seeks his help, but he's never fallen in love." Kurenai replied. "So, as his friend, I want you to respect that. I know that you're a good person, Anko, but I still worry about him."

"But, what's wrong with never being in love before?" Anko said. "I've never been in love in my life."

"But, you've slept with men before, right?" Kurenai asked her.

"I didn't love them: sleeping with those men were part of my job. It was just business." Anko stated blankly. "I learned how to ignore them and to make my mind go away whenever they touch me. I would make myself think that it was me using them than what it really was."

Kurenai hadn't known how badly abused Anko was. She brought the woman into a maternal embrace. Anko, who never had shed a tear for being used by a man before, finally cracked. Her tears made the pain go away. She didn't even know what love was before now. She didn't know that it was patient and warm and good. She didn't know that there were men out there who didn't want just her body but wanted to know her as well. She didn't know that anybody out there loved her as she was: broken, abused, and alone.

In Kurenai's mother-like embrace, she finally knew what it felt to be held and protected and to feel safe. Now that she knew what Ino and Shikamaru's son had all to himself, she was even more envious. Growing up, Orochimaru had never spoken to her except to send her on missions. She never knew her parents and the only time she remembered being held was when she was very small.

The pain in her chest broke apart and Anko was suddenly filled with peace. A peace that was only felt when one was loved.

"Thank you, Kurenai." Anko voiced shakily. "I didn't know that it could be like this, it feels nice."

"What do you mean? What could be like this?" the hypnotist asked.

"Love...I thought that it was sex and perverse and about feeling good." Anko explained.

"It's not quite like that," Kurenai shook her head. "Love isn't just about feeling good after sex. Love is feeling good after a conversation. Love is feeling good after making dinner. Love is feeling good after a fight. More importantly, it's about choosing to feel good."

"There's a choice?"

"Yes, there's always a choice. Love is a choice. You can't love someone until you choose to love them. And to love someone is to love everything that everyone else hates about them."

"So for Kakashi, it would be his incessant snoring and sleep talking and shower hogging?" Anko asked.

Both women laughed.

"It's not just that, it's also choosing to love the fact that he's sometimes distant. It's having faith that he'll always love you regardless of what others say. Trusting, giving and being faithful are also love."

Anko was about to comment when there was a knock on the front door. Anko followed Kurenai out the bedroom to let Asuma in.

"Hey, ladies, what have you been up to?" Asuma bend his head down to kiss his wife and greeted Anko with a pat on the back.

Kurenai almost slapped her head. She was making such good progress with Anko, and then waltz in her husband of seven months and ruins everything. She really should teach him how to be more subtle.

"Sorry, for bothering you, Kurenai, I should be going." Anko attempted to excuse herself.

"Don't be silly, Anko, it was my husband here that was intruding." Kurenai said as she dug her elbow into Asuma's rib. "Besides, I haven't fixed your hair yet. That's why you're here in the first place, isn't it?"

Asuma, feeling like he wasn't wanted or needed, decidedly left for the bedroom.

"If anyone cares, I'm going to read," he announced before leaving.

Kurenai disappeared into the bathroom, and came back armed with a pair of scissors, a comb and a razor blade.

"Come on, Anko, let's even out that mangled hair of yours. It needs a lot of TLC."

Anko gave in and sat on a folding chair in the middle of the living room. Kurenai started to comb her hair into segments and trimming the back into evenness. Anko just sat in silence as the dark-haired woman worked to tame her hair. All she could think of was of Kakashi and how she was going to handle him. Whenever Orochimaru had given her a target, it usually went a lot easier if the target had fallen in love with her. But, with Kakashi she knew that if she let herself fall in love, it would make parting a lot more painful and dying a complete tragedy.

After the hair cut, Anko decided that it was time to face the music, she thanked her hostess and said her goodnight.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Anko," Kurenai replied.

"Yes," Anko nodded and touched the back of her new, straight bob. "I really like this cut."

"I'm glad," Kurenai smiled. "If you ever need to talk about anything, you can talk to me, Anko."

"Thank you, Kurenai, I appreciate your offer."

That said, Anko gave Kurenai a final hug, a move that she wasn't familiar with, and made her way to her room. That was where she found Kakashi leaning against her door, waiting.

XXXX

"Kakashi," she breathed, awakening him from his immobile position. "What are you doing here?"

Kakashi righted himself and turned to face her.

"It was your idea, remember?" he brought a hand to the side of his head and ran it through his hair. "About what I said earlier, I just wanted to acknowledge that it was inappropriate. But, I won't apologize for saying it." His eyes blazed.

"Duly noted," she nodded in acquiescence. "But, it won't change anything between us, Kakashi. Maybe if I were a different woman, I'd allow it, but as a woman in my circumstance, I can't let it hinder me from my mission as well as your mission."

"Understood," he affirmed. "But, answer me this: if we were in a different circumstance, normal people, would you have consid—"

"Yes," Anko interrupted. "I would have."

"Thank you for your answer." Kakashi gave her the briefest of smiles before getting back to business. "Shall we get on with our meeting?"

"Yeah, that would probably be for the best, no?" Anko walked past him and opened the door to her suite. They sat down in the dining area near the kitchen. Anko scrounged up a couple cups of milk and a box of cookies and sat down across from Kakashi. "Here have some, Ino made them."

"Thank you," Kakashi watched her with great amusement and took a bite of the offered cookies.

Anko took a breath and took another deeper one.

"I want to tell you all that I know before anything else happens." Anko began. "It all started when I was just a kid. I was adopted by Orochimaru, he took me in as his own daughter. I didn't know who my parents were, but, supposedly I was picked up from the streets. Anyway, Orochimaru was a scientist that specialized in genetics.

He wanted to create a drug that would give a terminally ill person the strength of a twenty year old so he or she could enjoy what little life they had left. But, when the drug was near its completion, he was targeted. Orochimaru didn't realize that by getting rid of a problem, he would be creating problems with people who made money off of other's illnesses. Orochimaru had to go into hiding, even the government was after him. He contacted one of his colleagues, Kabuto Yakushi, a doctor to try to help him market this product in the black market.

That was when they started the _White Snakes Enterprises_ and Kabuto proposed that they also sell drugs for the black market. Then before anyone knew it, _White Snakes Enterprises_ morphed into the _White Snakes Gang_. When enemies started to show themselves, Orochimaru would send me into corrupt pharmaceutical companies and capture targets. After that they started to target even the respectable companies. I would get paid, and Orochimaru would be able to continue business with his many affiliates. He has connections in too many countries to count. And then Orochimaru lost control. There was a showdown at South America that created problems for the _Snakes_ and Kabuto took it upon himself to fix it. Kabuto found that the only way to fix Orochimaru's mistake was to get rid of him completely. He had sent me to Europe to target a French doctor who specialized in performance enhancing drugs. He wanted him killed and Orochimaru blamed for it. But, his plan backfired when Orochimaru was tipped off about it and called me back from France.

Kabuto then hired an assassin, Sasuke Uchiha, to take out Orochimaru. In retaliation, Orochimaru sent me to take care of Uchiha, but the plan fell apart, because Uchiha didn't have a heart. He didn't get seduced, nor did he fall in love. He was a perfect soldier and mercenary. I tried to pay him off, offering triple of what he was offered, but he simply said no.

I thought that he was going to kill me, then and there, but he didn't. Uchiha walked away, and I knew that he was going to kill Orochimaru and there was nothing I could do about it. And then there was news that Orochimaru was found in a hospital with severe burns and with zero chance of recovery. I didn't know how it all went so wrong. He just wanted to help people but then he...he made a mistake—"

"Stop," Kakashi interrupted her story.

Anko hadn't realized that tears were pouring from her eyes and she had crushed a cookie into crumbs in her fist. She took a napkin from a container on the table and placed the cookie crumbs into it and wiped the gooey chocolate chip smeared in her hand on another napkin. Kakashi was the one who wiped her tears away with a handkerchief he had in his pocket.

"I think this is enough for tonight, Anko, you have to sleep." He murmured.

"But, I need to tell you how to get into..." Anko trailed off when Kakashi stood from his seat and held her to him.

He carried her from her chair and brought her into her room.

"I meant what I said. I need you to take care of yourself. Sleep," he commanded. "Your story can wait."

Anko suddenly felt drained, and decided not to fight him. Secretly, against his chest she smiled. She was sure that she would have fallen for him even if he was one of her targets. The kindness that he possessed was incomparable to anyone else that she'd met in her life. If only God would have pity on her and let her live.

"God would let you live," Kakashi answered her. "They say that God created everything. I don't think that someone who created you would allow you to die, I know that you'll live."

Anko hadn't even realized that she was speaking her thoughts aloud. She blushed in embarrassment.

"Don't leave me," she whispered so softly that Kakashi had to lean in to hear it.

"Only a fool would leave you." He answered her before she fell asleep.

Kakashi sat down on the chair in the dining room and finished his milk. He silently prayed to a God that he didn't believe in that Anko would live. He didn't care what the consequences were as long as she lived.

"For my sake, God let her live," he begged. Now, he knew why the hopeless prayed; it must be because only the strength of the divine would be able to save them now.

XXXX

XXXX

XXXX

XXXX

A/N:

I am aware that this chapter had some Christian inflections. I am enamoured by the Christian views on love. And I just think that it's true: love is a choice; it isn't some fleeting feeling that Hollywood chick-flicks has fed us (Although, I still watch a lot of these films). And I think that people truly look and yearn for someone divine to save them at their most desperate times. I like to think that the most beautiful prayers are those of the hopeless, who have no hope except for the intervention of the divine. Sometimes I think that my prayers weren't answered, but when I think back, I realized that prayer gave me a sense of hope. A hope that got me through those hard times. I know that not everyone reading is Christian, but I wanted to introduce to you what love really is to me. Love is not overlooking flaws, but it is accepting and healing those flaws by being there for one another. I think that that is romanticism at its best.

Thank you for your continued support. I know I haven't been updating as quickly as you, as well as I, might have hoped, but I do try my best. I only pray that I won't let you guys down.

The next chapter will get into more action and plot development, so please continue your support. I hope you don't you count me out yet. Until next time.


	6. The Beginning

The Beginning

Kankuro was drunk again. His girlfriend of five years, Ayame, had shoved him out of their apartment, saying that if he didn't sober up, she'd stop supporting him. It didn't make a difference to the man. He didn't need some idiot woman telling him what to do. He walked along the long stretch of road in the dark night. The wind was some fierce lion, howling at the cloudless sky. The man pulled up the collar of his coat and hid his face behind it. His red, blood-shot eyes peered around trying to look for a sanctuary. He walked aimlessly, stumbling through the streets, hearing other street scum judge him.

"You're just like me!" he yelled after seeing a couple of people eyeing him as they walked past him in the opposite direction. "How's your life better than mine when we're all living in this hellhole?"

Kankuro finally found the place that he was looking for. It was the condemned house at the end of the street. He could still see the eviction notice posted on the once-beautiful doors. He entered through a side entrance. This was the only place in the entire block that the police didn't go. Rumour had it that this was where men from opposing gangs met to deal. It just goes to show that scum is scum regardless of which gang they belonged.

But, it was only earlier that week, that Kankuro had seen that pretty woman with Kakashi enter here and never come out. The troubled young man wanted to know where Kakashi had hidden her. The woman was definitely not as she seemed when he first met her. She could have killed him with the knife she had thrown at him that night on the street. He was forced to pretend to be unconscious if he didn't want her to slit his throat. It wasn't until the day after that he found out that the same woman was being hunted down by both the _White Snakes _and the _Akatsuki_. Now, wouldn't he receive a pretty penny for that pretty face if he found her? Kakashi was obviously hiding her somewhere nearby.

"Where the hell did you go?" He asked the mildewed walls and peeling wallpaper. He kicked the rotten hallway closet door with such force that it sagged against its hinges. "Anko Mitarashi, I know you're here somewhere."

There was a loud crack that exploded in his ears when something hit his head from behind. Kankuro dropped to the floor with a crash as blood dripped from his ear. His vision was spotty at best, and slowly fading to black.

His assailant turned him over to face the cracked ceiling instead of the damp ground. He faced his attacker, wondering how he would be able to escape this one. No one knew he was here and his brother worked for the other side. There wasn't a soul who could save him.

"Where is Anko Mitarashi?" the deep baritone of the man who attacked him questioned. It was obvious from his lack of control of his limbs, that the man knew exactly where to hit him and utilized that knowledge for a ruthless advantage.

Kankuro's eyes were the only thing that he had control over, his lips gasping afraid that its next would be its last breath. His head bobbled to the side, and he was able to see past the door he had kicked down and into the closet. He noticed that the back panel of the closet was askew. He realized that that was how Anko Mitarashi and Kakashi Hatake escaped him the other night.

"Answer me you filth!" The man with the deep voice pushed up his glasses with his middle finger, a habit. His long grey hair belied his age and was unkempt despite being tied back at the nape of his neck.

"Ka-kabu…" Kankuro gurgled as pain seeped into his bones. It was the new head of the _White Snakes_ himself, Kabuto Yakushi.

The other man only kicked his victim in the solar plexus causing the bleeding man to cough out more blood. Kankuro initially howled in pain, but his body must have gone into shock for he suddenly felt encased in numbness. He was forced to look at his only escape route without being able to reach it. He wasn't a fool; he knew he was going to die.

"I will only ask you one more time," Kabuto stated as he drew his gun and pointed it at the drunk's forehead, squatting down to better see his victim's fear-stricken face. "Where is Anko Mitarashi?"

Kankuro's lips quivered as his vision of the tunnel in the closet was obstructed by the chamber of the gun held to his face. He felt cheated; there was no light at the end of the tunnel he was reaching the end of.

"Tunn-tu—" he tried to say although he was unable to point in the tunnel's direction

"You're useless." Kabuto announced. He rose from his squat beside Kankuro's unresponsive body. He turned the bleeding man's face to meet his own bespectacled eyes. "Goodbye, drunk. You should be happy that you're finally leaving this hellhole. I wonder if the real thing will be more to your liking."

Kabuto took a couple steps back so that the splatter of blood will not touch him. He pulled up his semi-automatic handgun and fired it at the dying man's already bleeding head. He fired three shots in rapid succession before silence and death stilled the air. He watched the life seep from the other man's eyes before calling his men to clean up the mess.

"Anko Mitarashi, I swear that your pretty eyes will be the next I will watch turn vacant with death."

XXXX

Saying that the police headquarters was busy would have been the understatement of the year. There had been four bodies found dead in the city in the last two days and sixteen in the last month. Each was assumed to be a gang-related homicide. Gaara, the head of the homicide department was strained as it is. The other officers had given him the nickname of "blue-eyed devil" because of his unnerving demeanour. It only took the most stoic of men less than an hour to sing a new tune when interrogated by him.

Gaara leaned back into his ratty chair before opening another case file. These gangland shoot outs were pissing him off. He already had enough pressure from the chief to catch these guys, but at the rate that these guys were killing each other, it wouldn't be much longer before everyone in Konoha was dead and buried.

The detective picked up his pen to sign off that the case file before him was closed when the phone in front of him rang. If it was another reporter trying to interview him, he was going to start spewing fire.

"Hello," he grunted when he answered the phone.

_/Gaara, it's Ayame, Kankuro's girlfriend. I was just wondering if you've seen him?/_ It was his drunk brother's annoying girlfriend on the phone. _/We got into a fight last night. Usually, he would try to sneak back into the apartment after he's been kicked out of the bar, but he hasn't been back. I've asked around at Ichiraku's, if anyone saw him last night, but no one has. Something isn't right, Gaara, I'm worried about the idiot./_

"Just calm down, Ayame, he probably passed out somewhere, like last time." He reasoned with his brother's anxious girlfriend. "I'm sure that once he sobers up enough, he'd be on your case again."

_/You're probably right, I'm just overreacting./_ Ayame agreed. _/I'll stop bothering you then, and let you get to work getting those Snakes and Akatsuki bastards off the street./_

"Yeah, goodbye," Gaara said before he hung up. "I might drop in tonight for dinner."

_/Sure, come by any time. I'll be home by six./ _Ayame said as she hung up from the other line.

The homicide detective worked doggedly for the next few hours and lost track of time. When he checked the clock on his desk, it read quarter to nine. He'd already missed dinner at Ayame's and he wouldn't have another break until the end of his shift. Gaara wondered if Ayame found his idiot drunk of a brother as he holstered his loaded gun over his bulletproof vest. He was on patrol duty tonight and knew the consequences of being caught in the city's gang activity hotspots unprepared. As a homicide detective, patrolling wasn't in his job description, but with the bodies piling up, the city commissioner proposed that all available personnel be on patrol, even if in unmarked vehicles as a preventive measure. In other words, it was a stupid measure to appease civilians' anxieties. Gaara had already lost four partners in the last three years, three of the four dead, and he wasn't ready to join them yet; at least not until he witnessed the end of the gang wars.

The night was frigid with cold air alluding to the approaching weather system. Gaara pulled on an old ball cap to cover his shock of red hair and entered his unmarked car which was parked nearly four blocks from the precinct parking lot. No officer dared to park there anymore after the car bomb attempt three weeks ago. The detective easily worked his seatbelt over his shoulder despite his rigid armour and drove off toward his brother's neighbourhood. At least he could patrol around and make sure that his brother got home.

XXXX

"Matsuri, where are you?" Her drunken adoptive father was looking for her again. His voice always sent a chill up her spine and she knew that if he found her more bruises will be added to the collection on her body. "Damn it, you're useless, maybe that's why your parents left you."

The tiny girl of eleven shivered and pressed her hands to her mouth to cut off a sob. Her parents had died the year before after being mistaken for members of the _White Snakes_ gang. They were found dead in their car, shot multiple times execution style. Tears brimmed her eyes at the thought of her mother and father. There was once a time she was happy and loved, but now, since she lived with abusive strangers, it seemed like a dream or a distant memory.

Matsuri backed herself further into the brush outside the complex. If she had to sleep outside tonight she would. Just for one night, she didn't want to feel pain. Tomorrow, she would willingly pay the consequences if she could just forget for one night. When she could no longer hear the man she was forced to call her father, she hopped the six-foot, cedar fence and hid further into the brush.

When she started living in this neighbourhood, she had carved her own little path behind the trees. She was able to follow the main street and sidewalk until she got to the corner before the line of trees and brush could no longer hide her. As night darkened her path even more, she used the penlight that the social worker, working her case, presented to her along with the promise of getting her good adoptive parents. The thin beam of light was almost insufficient to use for seeing in the dark, but the girl didn't have any other choice.

Matsuri walked the path until the light from her pen caught something shiny ahead on the path. From far away, there was clearly something on the path. She wasn't sure if it was a trash bag or a beat up tent left by a hobo. She approached the shadowed lump until her light hit the glinting surface of a belt buckle.

"So, that's what was making the light twinkle." She bent to pick up the leather strap of the belt along with the silver buckle when her breath froze as cold as the night itself.

A little beyond the end of the belt buckle was a pale hand and attached to that hand was a body. Matsuri's penlight shook in her hand. The body was definitely male and her body seemed trapped in place. Her voice was painfully caught in her throat until the light revealed the man's dark lifeless eyes. There was a hole at the center of his forehead, another on his right cheek and one more in his exposed throat. _Execution style, execution style, execu—_

The girl screamed. The words repeated over and over in her head. She tried to run away, but had dropped her pen near the man's body. She tripped and tumbled out of the brush onto the sidewalk. She ran as if being chased by the killers themselves. Matsuri didn't know where she was headed, all she knew was that she didn't want to end up like that man and she didn't want to end up like her parents. The dark path ahead of her was irradiated when a set of headlights were pointed her way.

It wasn't until then that she realized that she hadn't stopped screaming since she found the body. Her tiny frame shook as the dark car stopped. What if it was the people who murdered that man? What if they heard her and was now going to kill her too?

"Please, please…" she choked when a figure, much larger than her, exited the car.

Her fear turned her legs to jelly as she fell against the hard concrete, skinning both her knees. She could see that the figure had a gun pointed at her. Tears dripped down her gaunt face as she could only look up to see the eyes of her would be killer.

"Shh," the figure said. "Be quiet and stop making so much noise, don't you know that this isn't a safe place for you?"

Matsuri only eyed the man's cold eyes as he stepped to the side of the headlights, where she could see his face. He was wearing a vest of some sort. He had put away his weapon when he realized that he was dealing with a little girl.

"Are you lost?" He asked her as he picked her off the ground.

Matsuri remained silent as she shook her head 'no'. She felt a scratching pain in her throat, and it hurt to swallow her breath. The man took her to his car and placed her into the passenger seat.

"I'm not going to hurt you, okay?" he said as he pulled off his baseball cap. "My name is Gaara, and I'm with the police. When you're ready, I can bring you home."

This only caused Matsuri to shed more tears. Her father would surly beat her up even worse for this. "Please, don't…" she choked. "I-I don't want to—"

"Did you get into a fight with your parents?" Gaara knew that some kids ran away from home because of silly fights. But as he took a closer look at the girl, he noticed scars and scratches on her forearms and legs aside from her freshly skinned knees. He also noticed a formed bruise around her neck.

He lifted a hand to inspect the bruise at her neck when she flinched and tried to draw away.

"I'm sorry," Gaara pulled his hand away. "I promise I won't hurt you. Do you want some water?"

The girl nodded. Matsuri couldn't help but be reminded of her own father when the man spoke to her with such kindness. She would have wept even more at the memory if not for the image of the dead man burned into her memory.

After taking a sip of water from the water bottle that Gaara produced, Matsuri turned toward her saviour.

"What is your name?"

"Matsuri," she replied.

"Why were you screaming? What were you running away from?"

"There's a dead body," she told the officer. "He's been shot."

"Where is he?" Gaara felt his blood run cold. He had a bad feeling about this. "Are you sure he's dead?"

"Yes, he's over there by the brush. There's no life in his eyes." Matsuri added.

"Just stay here until I call for back-up, okay?" Gaara pulled out his radio to contact the dispatcher.

The girl watched as the much older red-haired man talk into his police radio for the next few minutes. The police sirens were still a distant sound but bit by bit grew louder and louder when a hand unexpectedly grabbed her wrist. Instinctively, she tried to pull away.

"There you are you little piece of shit." It was her foster father. "I've been looking all over for you. Come on, we're going home!"

Matsuri tried in vain to pull away, as her 'father' dug his nails into her arm. She whimpered in fear, knowing what was to come when they got home.

"Excuse me, sir." The red-haired policeman's voice was polite and threatening at the same time. "May I ask what you are doing?"

"I'm her father, and I've been busting my butt all night looking for this little trouble maker."

"I'll have to ask you to remove your hands from her person."

"Or else what?" The man spat.

"I will have to use a more aggressive approach to removing them from her." He then withdrew his pistol and aimed steadily at the man's chest. His steel-blue eyes showed every aggression in him and indicated the gravity of his words.

A part of Matsuri wished that Gaara would pull the trigger, but another part—the part that couldn't erase the picture of the dead man in the woods—didn't want to see it happen. The only thing she could think to do was close her eyes.

Slowly, she felt the pressure from her captured arm dissipate as the tingling of blood flowing back into her limb caused her to open her eyes once more. She watched as Gaara approach her 'father' who was face down on the ground with his hand behind his back.

By the time the police back up had arrived, a whole five minutes had passed. Gaara had handcuffed her foster father and stuffed him into the back of a fellow officer's squad car.

"Stay here," he commanded the girl. "Matsuri, I can't protect you if you run away, okay?"

The girl nodded as the man walked away only to be halted by another officer leaving the cordoned off crime scene. She inched a little closer to hear their exchange of words.

"Gaara, you can't go in there." The officer announced.

"But, I'm the homicide detective, I have to be there." Gaara growled. "I have to do my job."

"This job's been assigned to someone else." The officer replied before looking away. "Gaara, listen to me. You working on this case would be a conflict of interest."

"What?" Gaara pushed his way past the cop and sprinted toward the crime scene. Other officers tried to block his path, but to no avail as he pushed through them as if they were rice-paper partitions. "Get the hell out of my way!"

Gaara ran up a short incline to see Genma Shiranui, another detective in his department, huddled over his older brother's lifeless body. He could see his brother's death-glazed eyes. Gaara was used to seeing death as he was a homicide detective. He had even killed many a criminal before in shootouts when he was an officer, but seeing his own brother dead made something in him tremble. The shock was palpable and it coursed through his veins in fear-induced waves.

He gasped in grief. "K-kankuro…" he stuttered as he felt his knees weaken before changing his stance, unable to look away.

No matter how strong a man he was, no amount of strength and training would have prepared him for the sight before him. He didn't shed a tear, but his body shook uncontrollably in grief and anger of such injustice.

It took five officers to subdue him, drag him from his brother's side, and bring him back to his car.

"I'm going to order you to go home and take a week off." Genma told him. "If you're seen even a block away from the precinct, I will extend your vacation to three months, is that clear?"

Gaara would have punched the man before him in complete fury for daring to threaten him, but he felt like a frozen block unable to move or speak. His eyes spoke volumes enough, as his fellow detective refused to meet his gaze.

The man nicknamed the 'Blue-eyed devil' was driven home by one of his fellow officers, and the girl, Matsuri, was taken to a hospital to be treated by doctors for the injuries she acquired from her foster father.

XXXX

After Gaara got home and broke the news to his brother's mortified girlfriend, he sat on the corner of his bed, his gaze steady against a piece of lint on the floor. He could hear Ayame's sobs in the next room through the thin walls. Ayame had blamed herself for her boyfriend's death, saying if only she didn't kick Kankuro out of the house he would still be alive. But, only a couple hours after, he knew that she had fallen asleep. He, on the other hand, was far from sleep. He couldn't stop all the questions bombarding his brain like a battering ram. There were too many unanswered questions and the detective in him needed to know the answers.

Although, he should still be grieving, something in the red-haired investigator wanted and needed to know the reason why. He needed to know why his brother had to die. He wasn't stupid, he knew it was a gang hit, but he needed to know which gang and why. First glance at the crime scene proved that the murder didn't occur there. The lack of blood at the scene was the first clue of that. So, there had to be another location where the murder took place. But, where?

At quarter to eight in the morning, Gaara stopped staring at the floor, stood up rigidly, and suddenly became a human tornado. He started to grab and overturn ever piece of paper he had on his work desk.

"Damn it, it has to be here!" he threw a book on anatomy on the floor after flipping through the pages without finding what he was looking for. He tossed another book over his shoulder and started rummaging through a drawer of stuff he kept from days at the police academy.

"It just has to be here." He ripped open a manual of some sort and noticed the written scrawl in one of the pages. "Found it."

He placed the manual flat on the desk's wooden surface and ripped the page with the handwritten scrawl out. He then jogged down the hallway to grab a lighter before going back to his room. The red-haired homicide detective took the ripped page and held it over the small flame of the lighter he kept for emergencies. The words and numbers over the page darkened and burned except for certain sections. The sections revealed to him his contact's name and the number in which to reach him.

"Well, partner, I guess I'm going to call you after all." Gaara took up his coat and walked out the door to his car with the note safely in his pocket. He needed to use a public phone. People always assumed that public phones were the least secure phone lines, but what made it secure depended on what you used it for. That fact, and the fact that hundreds of people use it so the call couldn't be traced back to him, made a public phone Gaara's number one choice to gain contact with someone he had hoped to never see again.

Gaara drove to a Laundromat and went to desk to break his ten dollar bill. The owner gave him a suspicious look because he didn't' have any laundry with him, but kept his mouth shut.

"Thanks," Gaara said as an afterthought.

He went to the back room near the restrooms to use one of the phones.

He inserted a coin and dialled the number he had memorized during his short drive to the Laundromat.

There was click and a sigh on the other line.

_/I thought you didn't want to stay in touch after what happened./_ The voice on the line stated, skipping the cordialities.

"I didn't, but there's been a change of plans. Someone killed my brother." Gaara said, also foregoing the niceties. "And I know that you have an idea who did him in."

There was a long pause at the other end of the line.

_/I can't help you right now,/_ The voice answered solemnly. _/And you're too late if you want to catch up to the rest of the story. Too much has happened already./_

"That's bullshit, I know you know something!" Gaara growled angrily. "I want you to tell me what it is. You're the one who left, and when you did, I didn't ask any questions even though that's a lot of what you left behind. After the captain and my sister died, I had to take up your slack. Now, I need you to cut me some—enough to hang who did this to my brother!"

_/You're going to hate me for this, but all I can do is advise you to take yourself and whoever else is important to you and get the hell out of town./_ The voice uttered stoically. _/I know you hated every advice I've given you, but this is one that you should really take. I have to go, I'm sorry./_

"I'm going to hunt you down," Gaara said into the phone's receiver. "And if I find you, consider yourself dead."

The other person on the line laughed.

_/Well, you're gonna have to find me first./_ the voice almost faded into the background, but not before whispering: _/And to save you some time, for old time's sake, you won't find me at home. Goodbye./_

_Please deposit another $0.25 to make another call._ The screen flashed before him moments after the line went dead. The bastard hung up on him.

Gaara didn't bother to reach for another quarter. He knew when something was a lost cause.

"Damn you, Kakashi." Gaara spat as he slammed a closed fist on the dash as hard as he could. He was lucky the airbags didn't deploy.

XXXX

Kakashi took the flip-phone in his hand and snapped it in half. He ripped out the antenna and smashed the screen. He took the sim card out and smashed that into pieces as well. He took the broken pieces of the phone and placed it in a plastic bag to dispose of later.

It was only about a week ago that Kankuro had stopped him and Anko. He didn't believe in coincidences, and knew that the same people hunting Anko down were the same people who killed the brother of a cop.

He knew that Gaara wouldn't call him if it wasn't an emergency. He knew that Kankuro was dead, but was shocked that Gaara would turn to him after what happened between them after Temari decided to join the resistance without her brothers' knowledge.

Kakashi would have liked to help out the last partner he had before he quit the force, but he wasn't in the position to do so without giving away the resistance's cover. They had already gotten Tenten to collapse the tunnel from where he and Anko had escaped. He wondered if Temari knew what had happened to her brother. He was sure that if she did, even though it had been years after she faked her death to work with the resistance, she still yearned to contact her only remaining family. Family secrets were just as hard to keep as secrets of the heart.

"I thought I'd find you here," Temari entered his room unannounced. Her eyes were a puffy red. "I need to talk to someone with reason. Not a bunch of women who weep for me and want to coddle me."

"Sure," Kakashi sat down in the dining room chair after pulling out a seat for Temari.

"How is Gaara?" Temari asked her brother's contact. "I've wanted to call him for so long, but I knew I couldn't."

"He's taken it hard. He's looking for me." Kakashi answered monotonously.

"It's my fault that Kankuro died. If only I had checked that the apartment was empty when I faked my death, making sure that no one would try to save me, he wouldn't have blamed himself for it and became a drunk." Temari's eyes watered. "I thought I checked everything. I checked the gas line that I was going to blow up while I was pretending to cook. I checked the detonator twice, almost three times, but I didn't bother to go to next room to make sure that he wasn't there. I'm so stupid."

"There wasn't anything you could have done then. Even if Kankuro wasn't there, I'm sure he would have still found a way to blame himself for it. And you did it to save many more lives."

"A lot of good that did, I couldn't even save my brother." Temari let out an unsophisticated sob before regaining her composure. "I think I liked the woman weep-fest better after all at least I didn't have to say anything, they talked and babbled for me."

"Temari, I'll need you to go to Ino for a psychiatric check up to make sure that you're still fit for the job."

"Kakashi, you really have a way with words, don't you?" Temari's voice croaked. "I'll go, for my brothers—I mean, Gaara, my _brother_."

Kakashi nodded and watched Temari hurry away. Here was another life ruined by war.

XXXX

Gaara went out the way he came in and got into his car. He drove down the most dangerous streets and alleyways that he knew, hoping to get a clue as to who killed his brother. He sped up to beat a red light and braked to slow down back to the suggested speed limit. The only problem was that his brake pedal was slack, the pressure was gone. Gaara's first move was to turn on his hazard signals a well as his headlights, but they remained off. It was already the start of the morning rush hour. He was reminded by the flickering light of the dash clock. He started to honk his car horn as he gained momentum. He couldn't turn since he was going too fast. He tried to turn on his gumball siren, but whoever cut his brakes knew what they were doing and had also severed the fuse connection accounting for his defective signal lights.

His only hope was if a cop tries to stop him by creating a road block or by crashing the car into a feather mattress truck like in the cartoons. And there was also a third option: manually crash the car and die without the answers. The blue-eyed man could only watch helplessly as the speedometer's needle went past sixty miles closing in on seventy. The blare of horns crescendo reached a maximum before he found the perfect place to crash, or to die.

XXXX

XXXX

XXXX

XXXX

A/N:

So, how about that? A little longer, a little more action than usual and the plot is underway. I finally had the time to edit and post this. I meant to post a Windy Days Chapter, but after watching a bunch of action flicks mixed with reading a bunch of mystery novels, I came up with this instead. I know that a lot of people will be complaining, that there wasn't any Kakashi X Anko moments in this chapter, but this chapter is only the tip of the iceberg. As the chapter title reads, it's only "the beginning". Please review, I enjoy hearing from readers, even if it's to tell me where I've gone wrong.


	7. Friend or Foe? Part 1

**Chapter 7: Friend or Foe?**

**Resistance Headquarters 11:47pm**

The dark black of the night shrouded everything in nothingness. The dark was either a reason to fear or a tool to escape. It had no other purpose otherwise. It only hid what people didn't pay attention to in the daylight. Its secrets were only a mystery because no one bothered to find out what they were. Darkness doesn't take sides—it is simply what it is: a reason to fear or a tool to escape.

Temari learned from Sakura that Gaara was taken in at Konoha Memorial Hospital a few hours after her talk with Kakashi. This recent incident along with the death of her other brother, Kankuro, caused Temari to instigate the events that would put the Resistance at risk, although, she made sure that her tracks were covered: she knew that she had to escape and see Gaara.

Knowing that every move she made would be tracked by other operatives, she used her skills as an aircraft engineer to short circuit the chip embedded into her palm. Using mainly a paperclip, magnet, and a 250-volt battery, she was able to disable it by using the magnet to draw the tracking chip closer to the dermis of her palm and holding it in place before piercing a bent paperclip into the spot above the meaty part of her palm until it touched the chip. The pain wasn't too bad but Temari took a deep breath before she touched the protruding end of the paperclip with the live end of a soldering wire attached to a 250-volt battery. There was a brief jolt and as the battery was thrown across the room from her arm's involuntary movement.

Her left hand was numb from the shock and her entire arm tingled as her heart rate sped up. Temari quickly pulled out the paperclip and wrapped her slightly burnt and bleeding hand with medical gauze she got from Sakura. Normally, de-activating or short-circuiting a tracking device would have alerted the guards that she was trying to escape, but luckily there was a gridlock power outage, engineered by the craft technician herself. She exited the side doors without a care for her own safety. She knew that if anyone on the outside recognized her, the entire Resistance operation would be blown out of the water, but what did it matter when the people she was doing this for were either dead, or holding on to life by a thread.

Temari was just outside the HQ gates when a voice called out to her. She turned quickly, shielding her nose and mouth from view; an almost involuntary move from her years of hiding.

"I'm not going to stop you," a figure emerged from the darkness, her beige trench coat much too oversized for her slight frame. "I understand what you have to do."

The lights in the Resistance base turned back on after the generators kicked in. Temari wouldn't be able to pass through the gates again without the others finding out what she had done.

"Anko, what are you doing here?" Temari lowered her arm from her face.

"I walk out here all the time. It reminds me that no matter where I go I am still a prisoner." Anko shrugged.

"Does Kakashi know that you're out here?" Temari asked worriedly. The sandy-blonde woman knew that Kakashi Hatake was by the book. He followed rules and protocols with such rigidity that it was sometimes impossible to tell if he was human or had a heart at all.

"No," Anko smiled, "I escaped just like you. But, I can't go past these gates."

"Did they put a tracker in you too?" Temari asked lifting her bandaged hand indicating where hers was placed.

"They didn't put one in, but I know that I wouldn't last one minute outside this gate, that's why it's so infuriating." The purple haired woman replied. "It's hard to believe that these gates are all that protects me. I envy you, Temari, to the rest of the world you're dead. I wonder if death is the only escape for me too."

Temari stared at the other woman's faraway gaze.

"You don't know how much I'd give up to live again. I would have loved to spend one more day with my brothers. I want to be alive again so I can be a normal person. It might be hard to believe but I wanted the fairy tale life just like every person, Anko. I dreamed of having a good career, I always wondered what it would have been like to grow old with my brothers, and I wanted to tease Kankuro before he walks down the aisle to marry Ayame. Also, I wanted to meet a man who loved me, and I craved it all so badly." Temari wiped the lone tear from her cheek. The winds howled and the darkness became darker. "But, that's the thing about life; we don't always get what we want. Our wants become secondary when it comes to protecting the things that we already have.

"My life came in second when I found my purpose for living." Temari continued. "My purpose is to protect those who are being victimized by the _Akatsuki_ and the _White Snakes_. My reason for living is to make sure that others don't have to go through the pain I've had to live through. But, right now, I have to be selfish and do something that I've wanted to do for so long. I'm going to see Gaara."

"I understand," Anko nodded solemnly. "When do you plan to return?"

"I can't return anymore, covert Resistance agents from ANBU, will come after me. Come morning, I'll be erased from history. In a few years, you won't even remember if I existed or a figment of your imagination. You see, Anko, the people at the top are not as merciful as Naruto and Kakashi. Yet, even if they catch me and put me on trial for treason, I'll suffer the consequences of my actions gladly." Temari smiled, full of hope. "Who knows, maybe they'll take my escape as training the newbie agents. I have to go now, I'm sure that Danzo's guys will be after me in a little while. This is goodbye, Anko, I hope that you'll live."

"Same goes for you." Anko uttered back as she watched Temari of the Sand—a moniker the craft tech was given because of her sandy, blonde hair and desert-nomad descent—faded into the surrounding darkness.

XXXX

**At ANBU-ROOT Headquarters**

"Operative, code-name: Sand, has escaped from Resistance HQ, sir." A ROOT agent announced, placing a folder with Temari's name embellished on the front tab. "There was a gridlock power outage in the area, giving her two minutes and 21 seconds to pass the front gate before the backup generators kicked in. And she has accessed our mainframe and deleted all information and files on her, including her service during the Great Nations War. This would be considered a security level ten matter. What are your orders, sir?"

Danzo only smirked, bemused, before standing from his seat. The sling strapped around his neck tightened as his paralyzed arm swung away from his body momentarily before returning at his side. He used his left hand to wave away the operative who notified him about Temari's escape before proceeding to press an extension number into the phone on his left side.

'_Yes.'_ The voice on the other line answered.

"I have a mission for you." Danzo still smiled, relishing the thrill the brewing war brought him. "I want you in my office right away."

'_Yes, sir,'_ The voice replied before cutting off.

Danzo flipped open the file folder the ROOT agent left on the corner of his desk. After Naruto Uzumaki took over as President of Konoha, it had been hard for the military man to find his footing in the peace that was attained by the charismatic blonde's leadership. The loss came at a bad time because he had just finished training special operatives within ANBU. Therefore, instead of shutting down the assassination training program that he had honed all throughout the Great Nations War, he instead re-named the department to be recognized under ANBU's many branch departments. Danzo had re-named his ANBU killing team, ROOT; ANBU—ROOT standing for: Allied Nations Battalion Unit—Retrieval Operative of Obviate Traitors department. He had told Naruto Uzumaki it was a department whose sole mission is to prevent all war and terrorist acts against Konohagakure by neutralizing all persons or groups threatening the stability of the country. And luckily for him, the naïve and optimistic man fell for it.

Now, Temari Suna had given the ANBU director the opportunity to try out his new weapon.

"What a great day to be alive and it's all thanks to Temari of the Sand." The man singlehandedly flipped open the previously classified file so he was staring at a headshot of the woman. Danzo reflected on the actions that he was taking. I wouldn't be long before the gang wars started, that means that ANBU—ROOT has to be ready to fight. And he wanted to use the confusion of war to get rid of Naruto Uzumaki and his Resistance group.

A moment later, a pasty, young man entered his office. He was clad in black and stood silent as Danzo continued to pace. The older man barely regarded the younger with a single glance of his eye.

"I asked for the best, and you're who they sent? What's the point in siphoning money into the ROOT program if all they can produce are skinny, pasty kids?" Danzo laughed. "You're only a boy, a child, barely a man."

The boy stayed silent, his expression perpetually neutral.

"At least you can hold your tongue and your temper." Danzo admitted before turning and staring at the young man with his only eye. "Agent, your alias for this mission will be, Sai Meisaku. And your mission will be to capture Agent Sand, also known as Temari Suna, who has escaped from the Resistance Headquarters. Whether you bring her back dead or alive is of no consequence to me. The real world doesn't even know she still exists. We must do this with the greatest care and out of the president's sight."

The agent called Sai, nodded in acquiesces to accept the terms of his mission.

"She is trained in long distance combat and is very tech-savvy. She can pilot airplanes and rockets as easily as one would a car. Here is her file," Danzo handed the filed to Sai. "Consider her as highly dangerous. Her capabilities are not to be taken lightly. She has covered her tracks after her escape by installing an encrypted computer virus in all of our back up, archived networks and documents. She managed to delete all files about her, so, the only proof that she existed at all is this folder on my desk."

Sai flipped a few pages of the folder to make it look like he was actually interested in the mission when, in all honesty, all he could think about was how pathetic the paralyzed, one eyed, director was. The older man acted self-important and expected him to do all the grunt work in finding the supposedly dead woman. It was an interesting mission at least; hopefully, this Temari woman would give him more of a challenge compared to his other assignments.

The ROOT officer waited a few more moments until he could take no more of Danzo's mad ramblings and simply walked out the office, folder in hand. Danzo didn't call after him, as he shut the office door behind him, freeing Sai to take care of the pending mission. Sai went to his room and got the necessary weapons and information for his assignment. He was planning to leave within the hour. He already knew where Temari would be. The dead body of her criminal brother was posted all around the news, and her cop brother was awaiting death at Konoha Memorial Hospital. That is where he will wait for her.

Sai pulled a small satchel over his shoulder and left the ANBU—ROOT base on a _Kawasaki Ninja 1000_. The motorcycle itself was top of the line with a shiny _metallic-spark black_ finish. He sped through the surrounding streets as a blur. When he turned into the causeway, he was accelerating to 180mph and weaving between cars, truck, and other vehicles. These were the moments he felt alive and free. The sun warmed his pale flesh as he flew past a police car. The cop inside the car immediately switched on the siren and lights, deciding to give chase. Sai didn't pay attention to the tailing police car behind him. He only had eyes for the road ahead. That, and finding Temari Suna of Sunagakure.

XXXX

**Konoha Memorial Hospital**

Temari walked up to the front entrance of the hospital wearing scrubs she had stolen from Sakura along with an ID badge/key card she had re-programmed to open any door of the hospital. It was easy enough to find out the security system provider of the hospital and create a counterfeit card from stolen, generated code—at least, it was easy enough for the techy woman.

She entered through the side doors of the emergency room and was immediately thrown into the mix of panicked, sick, and frustrated people waiting there. Since she was wearing scrubs, a gaunt woman approached her.

"Please help me, I need to see a doctor about this mole on my arm. It wasn't here a few days ago," the woman explained, pointing to what looked like a liver spot. "It could be cancerous. Please, this is a life or death situation."

"Sorry, ma'am, I can't help you right now, I'm wanted in the surgery." Temari replied excusing herself.

She swiped the key card over the proper slot and waited until the red, blinking light above the key card slot turned green and the double doors to the surgery opened. Once through the doors, Temari made an immediate right to avoid being seen by anyone who can tell she didn't belong there. Another gurney was pushed through the doors accompanied by alarms and blinking lights, this time it was an unconscious man whose lips were already turning a deep purple.

Temari wove through the hallways and ended up in the intensive care unit. She silently walked past the nurse station, mindful not to disturb the nurse filling out reports at the other side of the glass. From that point on, it wasn't hard to find her brother's room. The only thing that hindered her was her own fear of not being able to cope. Temari pulled out a mask from a hospital mask-dispensing contraption and pulled it over her face. She didn't want anyone to recognize her, especially Gaara. The ex-Resistance agent took a deep breath through the filtering cloth before pushing through the door.

The hospital room was quiet, the only sound were the whirrs and beeps of the machine attached to the patient in the room. Temari entered and was immediately at the unconscious patient's side. She paused for a moment to eye the many pathways of tubes and wire leading to and from her brother's body. She sat at down in the chair provided at his side. Deciding to talk to brother despite his unconscious state, Temari pulled down the hospital mask, not concerned about her disguise anymore.

"Gaara, you should just forget all that's happened and move on." She told the sleeping redhead softly; almost wistfully. "Otherwise it will be a crueller and harsher reality for you."

She watched her brother's even breathing as it brought to her a sense of peace. After thirteen hours in the OR, the doctors had finally put him in an induced coma. According to Kakashi, Gaara's brakes were cut and the fuse compartment of his car had been tampered with shortly after they had talked on the emergency phone. This led to Gaara's accident. The homicide detective was forced to drive his car through a set of guardrails into the ocean to avoid hurting anyone else during the start of rush hour traffic. She didn't hear about the incident until an hour after it happened. By that time, the rescue team had already fished his terribly battered body out of the water and she only had less than a day to plan her escape from the Resistance Headquarters.

The blonde woman snapped out of her thoughts as she ruffled what little hair was left on her brother's head; something that she had done to comfort him when their parents died. Tears streamed down her cheeks at the memory and her brother's condition. But, there was one thing to be thankful for: her brother was alive. Her brother might look awful, especially his patchy hair, but he was still alive. The medics had no choice but to shave a part of his head to stitch together a deep gash; twenty-seven stitches, she remembered Sakura telling her from the medic report the Resistance medic had obtained by suspicious means.

"Gaara, you're so brave and I'm so proud of you. You don't know how much I've missed you and Kankuro. I had hoped that I'd finish my mission so that I can go back to the both of you. But, I guess I was too late for Kankuro, and almost too late for you, too." Temari spoke again.

"Kankuro," Gaara sighed in his sleep, or, more accurately, his hallucination for he was heavily medicated, "Temari."

Temari solemnly took her brother's hand in hers, careful not to pull out the IV needle lodged in it. It hurt to watch him in emotional, mental, and physical pain. But, she knew that she could never protect him if she stayed with him. In fact, if she stayed with him, he'd be in more danger. And besides, she couldn't suddenly come back from the dead. At least not until all the _Snakes_ and _Akatsuki_ were gone.

According to the Resistance's rules, an agent must cut ties to all family and loved ones. It was easier for the others; they had no family on the outside like she did. But for Temari, the rules became a constant reminder of how much she missed her family and how she wanted to keep them safe. Not willing to dwell on the memories she had lost any more than she had to, Temari stepped away from her brother's side. There wasn't a need for her at his side. From the beginning, she knew that Gaara would become strong. She only hoped that she and the others can stop the brewing war before it even started so Gaara wouldn't have to join the list of casualties.

"Goodbye brother," she whispered into his ear. "Stay safe, you're the only person left for me to fight for."

Gaara fought to open his eyes upon hearing his sister speak to him. Was he dead? If he were dead, why was there still pain? Did he end up in hell after all?

"Temari," he croaked. His body uncooperative as his eyes felt heavy and only opened about half way; what was left of his vision refused to focus. All he saw was a blurry face, that could have been his dead sister, leave him once again. If he were to die, it'd be fine; at least he'd be able to see his sister and brother again.

There was a hiss of air being released as another shot of morphine entered his bloodstream pulling him back into the darkness.

XXXX

One thing that Sasuke Uchiha hated was waiting. As he parked in front of Konoha Memorial Hospital hoping for a lead in finding Anko Mitarashi, his patience drained and he became upset. The only lead he had was the cop called the "blue-eyed devil". The said cop was Kakashi Hatake's last, and only living, partner. Although it was a slim chance, Kakashi might decide to visit his dying partner out of respect. And if he does, the assassin would be waiting.

Sasuke barely watched the varying influx of people entering and leaving the hospital, but he memorized every detail of each person that entered and left. From those who were male or female, which had long or short hair, and even which eye colour each individual had. Sasuke Uchiha had what some called eidetic memory, more commonly known as photographic memory. His perfect memory allowed him to take note of every detail of every person, object or background at a single glance.

But, it wasn't until a blonde woman exited the front entrance of the hospital that Sasuke finally gave his full attention to his stakeout. The woman was medium height and wearing scrubs. Usually, doctors, nurses, and the like didn't exit the hospital through the front, and that was what set off the alarm in the top assassin's mind.

He watched as the woman calmly pulled down the mask covering her nose and mouth. The face was familiar, but Sasuke couldn't place it. A look of worry appeared across her face as a convoy of police cars sped by behind an idiot on a motorcycle. The assassin continued to watch her, trying to remember where he met her. Was it at a convenience store, or on a plane? Or was it during the Great Nations War at Kirigakure? That was it, the war! The woman before him was at the war. She looked different with longer hair, but her eyes were the same: tired and compassionate.

Colonel Temari Suna. That is the woman's name. She was the leader of his battalion unit, and later on his squadron leader when their troops dwindled, when they fought in Kirigakure. She was the one who taught him how to fly a helicopter, and was injured and discharged after they passed the enemy's first line. The woman was a fool, completely capable, but too emotional for the battlefield.

If he remembered correctly, Temari had acquired her injury when she dragged an ally's unconscious body away from enemy lines to safety, leaving him and the rest of the squad without a leader. The man had died anyway a few nights after. She had wasted her efforts trying to save an injured fool during a war because of sentimental feelings. And the stupid act cost her more good men.

Sasuke hated people like her. He only abided by the mission and would kill every person in his way complete it. That was how the world really worked. People who fell in love let loose a vulnerability that he liked to use to lure them into his employers' deadly traps. Well, Temari might be of some use to him whether she worked for the Government, Resistance, or the Akatsuki. He would only need to bait her.

A smiled formed on Sasuke's lips when he remembered another detail. Temari Suna is supposed to be dead. News of her death at an explosion caused by a gas leak was all over the media a few years back. As far as he knew, police found charred remains in the kitchen and her brother who was asleep in another room suffered from first and second degree burns trying to escape the second floor apartment.

"Who hired you, I wonder?" Sasuke asked, piqued. "I guess I'll just have to find out, Miss Suna."

Sasuke schooled his malicious expression to a friendly, innocent one. He had spent much time trying to get his face to look trustworthy and hiding his emotions when necessary.

He exited his car and headed towards the woman.

XXXX

As Temari exited the hospital, a feeling of dread settled over her. Because of past incidents, it was a feeling she associated with foretelling bad things coming her way. It happened when her parents died, when Kankuro died, and when Gaara was hurt. Now, the feeling for foreboding consumed her.

She pulled off the hospital mask off her face uncovering her mouth and nose. Was ANBU—ROOT after her already? Or was she just sleep-deprived and running on adrenalin from her recent escape? Questions such as these whirled around her head. The blonde was scared, but she wasn't without a plan. And she wasn't stupid enough to leave a safe house without a weapon. Even though the only thing she had was a utility knife, with her skills it would prove deadly. She had killed many people before during the recent war, and would never want to repeat the offense, but if she had to, she would fight, she would fight like her brothers had to fight living without her and without their parents.

Temari felt as if she was being watched—as if she were being stalked. A moment later, there was a rev of an engine and a blur of black passing her followed by five police cars, putting her mind on alarm.

"Colonel Sauna," a voice called out to her from across the street.

Temari, startled, immediately looked towards the voice, preparing to run. Recognition of his grinning face made her pause.

Sasuke quickly crossed the street and continued to smile at the blonde.

"I knew it was you, Colonel." The assassin gushed, keeping up his act. "I didn't believe that you were dead. I thought that you'd probably be in witness protection or something."

"Who are you?" Temari asked, sinking her hand into her jacket pocket, readying her knife. "How do you know who I am?"

"Of course you wouldn't remember me," Sasuke pressed a hand to his forehead. "I'm Sasuke Uchiha, remember, you taught me to fly a helicopter at Kirigakure during war?"

People passed the two in the middle of the sidewalk. The street was crowded since it was nearing lunch time. A couple of people trying to get to the subway station bumped into the assassin's arm. He had to get Temari away from here.

"Oh, yes, now I remember." Temari looked into the side streets on either side of her. "I'd like to catch up, but I'm afraid I have to go."

"Aw come on, Colonel, you can't leave now. I had such a crush on you back then; can't I take you out for coffee or something? My car is just across the street." Sasuke motioned towards his dark blue, rental car.

"I'm really sorry, but I have to go." Temari turned to leave but the dark-haired man only grabbed hold of her wrist.

"I can't let you go, Colonel." Sasuke spun her around so her back was to him with his arm across her neck. "If you scream, people might recognize you. And we're in the _Snakes_' territory, so, if someone does recognize you, then it might inspire someone to kill your other brother too. I can kill him you know? It wouldn't be hard at all seeing as he's just lying there prone to anyone's mercy."

Temari weighed in the options. She knew that if she went with Sasuke Uchiha, he'd kill her and then Gaara won't stand a chance, but if she tried to escape, he will follow her. As long as she lives, she could keep the assassin away from Gaara, and buy her brother time.

Temari sucked in as much air as she can before screaming.

"Help, someone help me!" She hollered at the top of her lungs. "He's trying to steal my purse! Ow, let go of me!"

She stomped on his foot, escaping from his arms after a quick jab to the correct pressure points. A crowd started to gawk and gather around the Uchiha.

"Hey, buddy, why don't you pick on someone your own size?" A large man emerged from the crowd of people to address the assassin.

"_Yeah,"_ other voices joined in to reprimand the eidetic killer, so he was able to memorize each of their faces. _"Leave the woman alone!"_

Temari escaped her would be murderer and didn't dare look back. Even when two gun shots resounded in the afternoon chaos, she kept running. Sasuke Uchiha must have shot at those poor people because of her. The police cars that were chasing the lone motorcyclist probably abandoned their pursuit and are approaching the street where she left Sasuke Uchiha— if the increased sound of sirens is any indication. Temari turned into another side street and started to head for her old neighbourhood. It was the only familiar place she knew. Even the streets around the hospital had changed, and there was no way she'd be able to get away if she was being hunted.

XXXX

Sai smiled as he watched the _White Snakes_ top assassin try his luck at capturing Temari and failing. Of course, it would take more than the man's paltry attempt at acting to get someone trained by the Resistance like Temari Suna to believe him. But, just in case Sasuke would complete his mission for him, Sai waited and watched to see what either party would do.

The ROOT operative managed to escape the police be going through a park on his motorbike. The police cars were unable to get past the bollards in the park's walkway entrance. He successfully eluded them, by going through the hiking trail and out of the park through the bicycle path. The trail took a lot of expert manoeuvering to get through, but it wasn't something that Sai was new to.

Now, it was his turn to try to capture the blonde beauty, even though there was nothing special about her looks. Sai fired two shot into the air the moment that Temari escaped from Sasuke. The people surrounding the assassin started to flee, thinking that Sasuke had an accomplice nearby.

Sai decided to give Temari a head start, it wouldn't be gentlemanly of him to capture her otherwise. Besides, he was curious as to how she would react at her capture. Would she fight, would she kill herself, or would she calmly allow him to take her in? Being a person unable to relate to others, the ANBU agent found it interesting that every capture he had completed ended in such fashions, and no matter how he tried to guess which way out his mark would take, he always got it wrong.

Once Temari had turned the corner into an adjacent street, Sai changed the license plate on his motorcycle, put on a grey leather jacket, and pulled on a red and white helmet to hide his identity. He is now ready to join this little game of cat, cat, and mouse. Sai accelerated past the garbage bins onto the street, and gave chase to the scared little mouse; a Cheshire Cat-like smile lit his face behind the helmet visor.

"This is going to be fun," he noted.

vvvv

vvvv

vvvv

vvvv

A/N:

Hello everyone! This chapter may not have a lot of Anko and Kakashi in it, but I assure that it is important to the plot. I've had a lot of difficulties in choosing the right path to take with this story, but I think that I've finally made the decision which way I will go about telling the story and I am sticking to it.

This chapter wasn't in my original outline, but I wanted to add this little bit about Temari, and to also reveal a little bit about Sasuke and Sai's pasts. This story will be doing a lot of jumping around from character to character compared to 'Windy Days', but it will all be done in a non-confusing (I hope), linear timeline.

This chapter is dedicated to **_Colonel Hatake_**, for always reading and reviewing all of my stories (_Windy Days_ included) and, also, for being so understanding when I haven't reviewed in a long time.

Please stay tuned and tell me what you think, dear readers, your support is what keeps me writing. Thank you.


	8. Friend or Foe? Part 2

Chapter 8: Friend or Foe (Part Two)

Temari came to the point where running away on foot would become too difficult. She had to find a car and put some distance between her and Sasuke Uchiha. She crossed a busy intersection, carefully blending in with the crowd crossing the street. On the corner was a gas station. All she had in her jacket pocket besides her utility knife was a granola bar, a compact mirror, the key card and mask she used at the hospital, used bandages from the cut on her hand, and a USB drive containing all the files she had copied from the ANBU mainframe. Since she wasn't supposed to be alive at all, she didn't own any credit cards, or even a monetary account. At the Resistance HQ, she was fully provided for to the point there was nothing more she could want materially. Yet, at the same time, it made her a prisoner there.

A sigh escaped through the aircraft controller's lips. She had planned on going to her first safehouse after seeing Gaara, but now that she was being followed, it would be impossible to do so. She had to survive on her own with the items in her pocket. If only she could get her hands on a computer or the internet, she would be able to find a way to survive.

Temari pulled on the hood of her jacket as she stayed to the side of the entrance door of the gas station and made a visual confirmation of the cameras inside before going out back. She followed the wire of the CCTV cameras to a rusty fuse box behind a porter-John. Pulling out her utility knife, she pried open the fuse box and flipped the switched that was stupidly marked 'CCTV', and then, just to be sure, Temari sliced through the thin wire connecting to the camera when she was certain the wire was dead. She also took the time to rummage through the fuse box for parts she could use to help her out while on the lam.

A moment later, after rounding the entire station to emerge through the other side, Temari entered the gas station doors, passing by a man in a black pick-up truck. The man was listening to the football scores on a mostly static-filled radio station and cursing his favoured team. Temari entered through the automatic double doors and walked right up to the cashier.

"I locked my purse in my car," she explained to the man reading a car magazine behind the counter. "Is there a phone I can use?" She asked knowing the answer and setting her plan into motion.

"Sorry, ma'am, we don't have a courtesy phone, but there are some pay phones out back."

"But, I don't have any money, I locked my keys and wallet in my car."

The man peeled his gaze from his beloved magazine and gave Temari a withering glance before taking a quarter from the take-a-penny-leave-a-penny box by his till.

"Here, knock yourself out," He shrugged and went back to his reading.

"Thank you, Ruben," Temari replied, reading the name on his name badge. "You're a life saver."

"That's in aisle two beside the Altoids," he said offhandedly, completely ignoring the woman who had just annoyed him into giving her a quarter.

When Ruben re-immersed himself into his magazine, Temari filched a mini flashlight from the front counter next to the cashier's till; a pack of gum also next to the register; a bottle of water within arm's reach as she walked towards the door; a small first aid kit from a stand near the door; and a re-usable bag under the first aid kit stand on her way out. She stuffed everything into the bag, and momentarily wondered how many items were stolen every shift Ruben had. Obviously, that was too easy, even if she didn't plan which items she was going to steal ahead of time.

Temari smiled brightly upon exiting the gas station, passing by the same man in the black pick-up truck. There were two ways to escape: one way was to call for help, and the second way was is to survive on her own with an assassin after her. As much as the first option is probably the way the sandy-blonde woman wanted to go, it would put more people's lives in danger; besides, she didn't know how far Danzo's influence reached in the government and Kakashi and the others. So, she had to choose to survive then.

Temari turned to the man seated inside the black pick-up truck.

"Excuse me, sir, I really need your help." She stated as nicely as she was able.

The man looked up from the radio in his truck with a deep frown.

"What is it?" he retorted gruffly. "I'm a little busy here, blondie. I don't have time to listen to your problems; I get enough of that from my wife."

Temari leaned in closer under the pretence that she was trying to hear the game's score better. "I'm sorry about that, sir, but could you possibly give me a ride to _Ichiraku's_?"

The older man looked up at her with an incredulous stare.

"Are you serious lady? That bar is half way across town, not to mention that neighbourhood is smack in the middle of a gang turf war. You must be nuts or a bloody tourist!" the man then laughed. "You had me going there for a minute."

When the man felt a cool sensation against his neck, he looked up at the woman before him and was staring at the hilt of a knife in her hand and assumed that the blade's end is pressed securely against his neck ready to be inserted into his jugular vein at any sudden movement.

"Here's what's going to happen." Temari stated evenly. "You will move into the passenger seat as I take control of your vehicle. When I decide that I've driven you a safe distance away, you will be dropped off in a safe location outside of gangland turf. I will then take your truck for the rest of the evening and you will find it parked in front of the police station tomorrow morning. Is this an agreeable solution to our problem? If I have time, I'll even fix your radio, for your kind-hearted deed."

"You're crazy," The man's voice warbled in fear. "You won't get away with this."

Temari pierced the very sharp tip of her knife into the man's skin: deep enough to draw a drop of blood. "Apart from sounding like a cliche, that's not a very smart thing to say to a crazy woman with a knife, sir. Now, if you will only cooperate, we can part ways sooner rather than later."

"Yes, just don't kill me, please," the man backed away into the passenger seat and put on his seat belt when Temari belted herself. "I don't want any trouble, lady, I have a family."

"I don't, so it doesn't endear you to me." Temari smirked impishly, as she backed out of the gas station, and started on her way to the safe house location.

"Well, that's good, I don't have a wife anyway." The old man's expression changed quickly to a grin, happy that he at least pulled one over his assailant. He turned away and rolled down the window.

Temari knew that he's only acted scared, so she raised her defenses. "Has this happened to you before or something? You're a little too comfortable for someone who's just been kidnapped."

"I like adventure," the old man shrugged. "And when you're my age, the only thing interesting anymore is getting pick up by attractive kidnappers."

Temari ignored him then and continued to drive silently. She didn't really care how the elderly got their kicks. She knew of some who called 911 or other emergency numbers just to talk to someone.

There was a point when they had passed the city centre and started to drive further out into the suburban areas. The man then leaned forward as she turned right, and made a grab for something in the glove-compartment.

"If you reach for that gun, I will make you bleed out so fast that you won't even remember which team you were cheering for five minutes ago." Temari noted, looking away from the road for a few seconds to calmly explain to her captive that her threat was of a serious nature. "I really don't want any trouble, sir, but the moment that you start making some, you will regret your actions."

The older man placed his hands up in defense since Temari's knife was digging into his hip where his left leg met his pelvis. A single pothole could quickly lodge the knife into his flesh. "I won't try anything, I promise."

"Hand me the gun," The recent car-thief and kidnapper commanded. "I want it as a souvenir of our time together. Hand it over to me with the safety on and hand it to me butt-end first."

"You are crazy," the man uttered under his breath as he followed the blonde's instructions. "There, now I'm at your mercy."

Temari balanced the knife on her thigh before grabbing the gun and placing both weapons in her pocket. Now, she had at least one more weapon against Sasuke Uchiha. She knew that the man might be tempted to try his hand in disarming her now that it looked like she'd drop her guard.

"Do you have any more ammo for this?" she asked the man, distracting him from looking out the window and focusing his attention on her. "A Smith and Wesson Sigma, semi-automatic, 9mm; I wonder what an innocent civilian would need a semi-automatic for? Don't old fogies like you usually stick to revolvers?"

"That's all I got, lady," he minced his words through gritted teeth, his eyes were the colour of liquid pitch. "I have a lot of stress, and I take it out on shooting ranges. I'm usually easy-going and mild-mannered, but I'm also on a deadline."

"What do you do that you need this kind of firearm for?"

"I'm a writer." The man answered somberly, his grey hair only brightened by the sun escaping from the passenger side indicating that she was still heading north. "Not a very good one, I'm told. But, I go to ranges when I suffer from writers block."

"By ranges you mean your back yard, right? I bet you don't even have a permit for it, or a license for a concealed weapon, for that matter." Temari winked charmingly at him, hoping to get him to drop his defenses even more. "Don't look so suspicious, old man, I'm a little desperate is all. An ex-boyfriend was tailing me. You've probably heard of the type: you know, the ones who don't take no for an answer."

The man laughed incredulously. "Yeah, so, impolitely commandeering a man's truck and kidnapping him at knife point is how a distressed woman normally acts?"

"Some, but not all," Temari shrugged off his enquiry and turned left at the next stop light. They were only an hour away from her old neighbourhood. "Although, I think that any person desperate enough is capable of anything."

XXXX

Anko's dreams were becoming increasingly vivid the longer she stayed at the Resistance HQ. She could remember seeing people dying. In her most recent dream, there was a man with straight, dark hair that fell at her side. Blood escaped the side of his mouth as he struggled for air. There was some sort of steel projectile embedded into his neck. After a few moments passed, the life from the man's eyes faded to nothingness and was left open in perpetual shock. Anko then heard a door open and a dark figure called her. She didn't know if it was male or female, but she could only remember being encased in warmth for a minute before being ripped away. There was a laugh and a scream nearby, and then everything faded to black as if she had closed her eyes.

When she opened her eyes again, she was back in her room at the Resistance Headquarters. Her clothes were soaked in sweat, her eyes felt swollen from tears, and her hair was an oily, matted mess on her head. The soft whir of the air-conditioner was the only sound she could hear now: no screams or laughter. The cool air of the room started to give her goose-bumps and the dried tears on her face felt like saran-wrap stretched across her face.

Anko untangled herself from her bed sheets and walked into the living room of her suite. Kakashi still slept on the couch, despite her reassurance that she was okay on her own. She had a feeling that Kakashi was doing this to prevent her from escaping more than he cared about protecting her. The purple-haired woman walked past the man sleeping on the couch and into the bathroom door five steps away.

She made sure to keep her mind clear and away from the images of her dreams as water cascaded down her body in hot tendrils to soak her stiff muscles. The tattoo on her neck thrummed over her erratic pulse. Too much coffee, she would say to explain it when Kakashi asked before, but the real cause was fear. She was afraid of being locked up in a safe house with a bunch of people who hated her, if not, hated what she stood for. She knew that they were constantly watching her and that every off-handed remark about the _White Snakes _was aimed at her. Anko tried to work out the kinks out of her shoulders under the heat of the water. A part of her wanted to escape and get killed so she wouldn't have to suffer this fear anymore, but there was a repressed part of her that wanted to hope, and wanted to believe that no matter how bad things were it would one day work itself out. That one day she would be free to walk out into any street and not be afraid of the possibility of a bullet entering her skull.

She stopped ruminating about her bleak future when she realized that she was and forced herself to focus on lathering her shortly cropped hair with expensive shampoo and conditioner instead. It seemed that the presidential perks also extended to guests of the Resistance. Anko lost herself in the simple pleasure of cleaning her hair that she barely heard the knock at the bathroom door. She didn't reply, because she knew who it would be; there was only one person who willingly approached within ten feet of her.

"Kakashi," she voiced breezily. "Is that you? If it's my clothes, you can put it by the sink."

She asked when foot falls neared the shower curtain but received no reply or acknowledgement. A shiver ran up her spine as alarm settled in the pit of her stomach. Anko took hold of the detachable shower head and clutched it tightly in her hands. When she heard the intruder close enough to the plastic curtains, she nimbly whipped them off and aimed the piping hot water blindly, hoping to distract the shower-crasher long enough to escape.

Anko jumped out of the tub, and continued to spray the water in front of her until she slipped on the linoleum floor and was propelled into a solid mass of wet clothes and muscles. She found herself on the ground strewn against the intruder's abdomen. She continued to struggle to get away until she caught a glimpse of thick, white hair that could only belong to one man.

"Anko," a deep voice gritted. "What the hell?"

Kakshi sputtered as he tried to get the water out of his eyes and nose.

Meanwhile, Anko pulled a soppy towel pinned under his arm and wrapped it around herself.

"Why didn't you answer me? Or let me know it was you?" She blurted snappily.

"You said my name, so I thought you knew it was me." The silver-haired ex-cop reasoned as he finally got the water out of his eyes. "I was just going to put your towel and clothes on the counter and leave." He said indicating to the clothes on the short bench-like counter beside the shower.

"I thought that you were…" Anko trailed off.

"Did you have those nightmares again?" he asked her as he wrung the water from the front of his t-shirt. "Has Kurenai and Ino been helping you in your therapy sessions?"

That was another thing that the female spy hated about being a prisoner here, she had to take a psych-evaluation test. Anko had started her therapy sessions with Kurenai one week ago, four days after her arrival. Most of the therapy sessions consisted of placing her in a hypnotic trance, and it freaked her out when Kurenai would stare blankly at her after each session. It was as if the other woman had found out something Anko wasn't aware of. When she would ask what's wrong or if the psychologist was offended by something she said, Kurenai would quickly change the subject and say that they were making remarkable progress. The worst session was the one with Ino, because the blonde was really good at reading people's facial tics and body language; the _Snakes'_ ex-spy swore that Ino could read minds.

"They're going great, Kurenai said we've made a lot of progress. She says that the nightmares are symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and that one of the ways that my mind is sorting out the disturbing fragments of memories I have is by trying to make sense of them in dreams and nightmares." Anko shifted her weight from one foot to the other, the water from her towel continuously dripped down her leg, and was making it difficult to carry on a conversation. "Well, I should get changed now."

"Yeah," Kakashi said monotonously, making it impossible to tell if he agreed with the statement or not. "We wouldn't want you to get sick."

Ever since Kakashi had admitted his feelings for her, she had problems seeing him as her warden, she was starting to like the man despite her resolve not to. He was mostly serious, but at times he would smile at one of her sarcastic comments or sassy remarks toward Neji Hyuga, her mortal enemy at the safe house. Seeing Kakashi smile was such a highlight of her day that she didn't care that she had to be in the same room as Neji, let alone give the recognisance agent a chance to reprimand her.

The most recent example was when Neji found out that she had allowed Temari to walk away and leave the HQ's premises without a fight the night before; the younger man was livid. But, despite the man's meanness, she knew that he was one of the good guys. His deep hatred for her stemmed from a deep hatred of weakness and those who show them. Anko was sure that Neji disliked her most because she ran away from the _Snakes_ and sought Kakashi's help in her weakness. The straight-laced man didn't think that she deserved protection because she dared asked for help from the Resistance knowing that she didn't deserve it and by bribing Kakashi with information.

Anko waited until Kakashi exited the bathroom door before scurrying to the door to lock it shut. She knew from experience that she couldn't trust anyone here, even Kakashi. The purple-haired woman quickly rinsed off the soap and shampoo in her hair, towelled off, and put on the clothes that Kakashi left out for her. She wasn't allowed to keep her own items, except for the shoes she came in and a compact mirror that security deemed harmless. The rest of her clothing was always to be checked before being given to her, and she wasn't permitted to keep her weapons. Despite the luxurious items that surrounded her, it was very clear to her that she was a prisoner here and Kakashi was her jail keeper.

Anko took hold of a hair-brush and swept the tangled mass of hair from the front of her face to the back. The motion soothed her, but it was short-lived when someone knocked on the door to take her to Kurenai for another therapy session.

XXXX

When Anko was escorted to her therapy session with Kurenai, Kakashi walked down the hallway to the room beside the psychologist's office. Upon entering he was greeted by Ino, who had been listening in after one very interesting hypnosis session where Anko indirectly admitted to seducing multiple politicians that either stepped down from their position or disappeared without a trace.

"Hey boss, what's eating you?" The beautiful blonde asked him as they watched Kurenai welcome Anko into her office through a one way mirror. "If what you're hearing is becoming too disturbing, I don't mind doing the reports on my own."

Ino leaned back further into her chaise, propped her impossibly long legs up on a nearby side table and chewed on a pen as Kurenai started the session and was slowly placing Anko into a lucid state.

"I can take it," the ex-cop muttered before taking a seat next to Ino.

"I mean, if I had a romantic interest in her but found out all the stuff she's done, I'd be a little put off too." Ino rambled on.

"Do you think that we can we just observe and keep our mouths shut, Ino?"

"Sure, whatever you want, Kakashi-sensei." Ino flipped open her notebook with the butt end of her pen and scribbled in the date and time.

Both Resistance officers trained their eyes and ears on what was going on in the other room.

XXXX

Once Kurenai had placed Anko into a trance, she started her interview. She always started with the same simple questions to keep up a routine.

"What is your name?" she asked.

"Anko Mitarashi," was her reply.

"How old are you?"

"Twenty-eight years old."

"What are your parent's names?"

"I don't know."

"What is your favourite colour?"

"I like the colour red."

"Why do you like the colour red?"

"I don't know."

"What can you tell me about Kabuto Yakushi?" Kurenai continued the routine questions.

"Kabuto Yakushi; height: 5'-9 ½"; age: 23; blood type: AB; eye colour: grey; subject has acquired multiple doctorates by the age of 18 in human kinetics, anesthesiology, and medical genetics; he is adept in many languages: Japanese, English, Italian, Mandarin, Spanish, Arabic, and Russian; he has taken over Orochimaru as the leader of the _White Snakes_ and should be considered extremely dangerous; he specializes in long-range combat, although subject is adept at close-range combat; end of data." Anko droned on.

"That's good, Anko, now please tell me about yourself."

"Anko Mitarashi; height: 5'-6 ½"; age: 28; blood type: A; eye colour: brown; end of data."

"Now, Anko, please tell me about Kakashi Hatake."

"Kakashi Hatake; height: 5'-11 ¼"; age: 29; blood type: O; eye colour: black in right eye and red in left eye resulting from partial ocular albinism; subject is a graduate of Konaha Police Academy under the tutelage of Minato Namikaze; upon graduation subject was hired as an officer in Konoha and was partnered with Obito Uchiha; subject's latest partner was Gaara Suna, under the command of Hiruzen Sarutobi; after the death of Hiruzen Sarutobi, subject quit the force and became a private investigator; as a private investigator, subject solved many missing person's cases; subject currently lives in a subdivision area in East Konoha north of _Snake_'s territory; end of data."

Kurenai scribbled a few more notes in her notepad, and recorded the _Snakes_' former spy's answers. In the last few sessions, Anko had quoted the exact same answers word for word. It led the psychologist to believe that Anko was brainwashed and her memories are being supressed or was erased. At first she couldn't believe that such a thing was possible; brainwashing, sure, but erasing or changing one's memories, was another story.

"Anko, do you remember what you did when you worked for the _White Snakes_?" Kurenai started to deviate from the routine questions delve deeper into Anko's subconscious.

"I killed men," was Anko's emotionless reply.

"Why did you kill them?" The psychologist continued unflinchingly.

"I don't know."

"Can you tell me who those men were?"

"I don't know."

"Have you killed a woman or a child?"

"No, I have—I don't know."

Kurenai recorded the change in Anko's answer.

"Have you witnessed a murder?"

"I don't know." Anko let out a whimper.

The session was starting to become more difficult, especially when something in Anko's mind was blocking the answers in her subconscious. But, there was one more question that Kurenai thought of.

"Anko, please tell me who sent you to Kakashi Hatake?"

"The Target sent me to him." Anko's voice was barely a whisper as tears slowly streamed down her cheeks; the moisture causing her eyelashes to clump into miniature spikes. "The Target sent me."

"Who is the Target?"

"The Target is—end of data." Anko started to sob and hyperventilate.

Kurenai knew that Anko was in immense pain at her questioning and decided to end the trance.

"Everything is okay, Anko, when I count to three, you will wake up feeling calm and refreshed: one, two, and three."

The younger woman opened her eyes and seemed surprised at the moisture dripping down her face.

"What did I say?" Anko asked as she wiped the tears from her eyes. "I hope it wasn't anything stupid."

"Don't worry about it, I believe you were having a memory lapse and started to cry." Kurenai responded. "Did you have any reoccurring dreams or nightmares this week?"

"I had a dream last night. All I remember was seeing a dead man with something metallic sticking out of his neck, and then I heard a scream and a laugh before everything went dark and I woke up. What do you think that means?"

"It may be a memory from your past, or the man in your dream may signify something or someone special to you."

"Kurenai, are you saying that that man is a symbol of something or someone dying in my life?" Anko shook her head at the incongruity. "I don't think so, I'm not afraid of dying. That doesn't mean that I won't fight for it, but if I die then it's something I've accepted even expected. Besides, I used to fear dying from a gunshot wound, not from some sort of metallic projectile."

Kurenai shifted in her seat and scribbled something down on her notepad. The purple-haired woman wanted nothing more than to rip the notepad from the doctor and see once and for all if she was crazy or not.

"Are you afraid of seeing someone die?" Kurenai spoke calmly which irked her even more.

"No, I don't care who dies! He can die for all I care!" Anko supressed a panic-inducing thought of Kakashi dying. "I had no choice; it was either me or him."

"Who is this _'he'_ you are talking about?" The doctor stared into the fear-stricken eyes of her patient. "_He_ may be the reason you are afraid to remember your past. You are afraid that if he finds out about your past, his feelings toward you will change; or that if you find out about your past, your feelings toward him will change."

Anko schooled her appearance to a neutral expression. If she got angry, it would prove that she had feelings toward someone she'd rather not have feelings for. But, if she remained calm and collected, she may have a chance to control those trivial emotions.

"The man in my dream had straight, dark hair. And I felt no loss for his dying, only dread for what was to come next." She said, changing the topic. "If your theory is accurate, what do you think that the scream and the laugh symbolize?"

"I'm not sure. Dreams are created by chemicals in the brain projecting into your subconscious. Even watching or reading a murder-mystery before you sleep could leave an impression in your subconscious."

"Therefore, you are saying that you don't know what my dreams mean?" Anko grumbled. "That doesn't help me very much."

"Dreams cannot be interpreted by an exact science, Anko. Dreams can be interpreted into many ways depending on the person who had them." Kurenai continued, ignoring Anko's obvious displeasure. "I can't tell you what those dreams mean, unless you know if they were memories, metaphors, or even a foretelling of an event."

The two women were silent for some time contemplating what both learned from the session. Kurenai learned that Anko was sent to Kakashi by someone called The Target, and that fact was suspicious in itself. Were the _Snakes_ capable of sending an amnesic spy to infiltrate the Resistance? It seemed absurd, but if true, Kurenai could be staring into the confused eyes of an enemy.

"How about we end this session early, and I'll see you again in two days." Kurenai commented, thus breaking the tension-filled silence.

"Okay," Anko responded by standing up and walked toward the exit of the psychologist's office with an odd expression fixed on her usually beautiful face.

"Don't worry about it, Anko," The older woman avowed. "You are making great progress; just keep trying to remember your past. There must be some sort of trauma that caused you to forget everything before two years ago."

"I will, doctor." The patient nodded once in confirmation and shut the door behind her.

Kurenai waited a few minutes until she was positive that Anko was far enough from ear-shot. The psychologist and gatekeeper walked to the one-way mirror and peered into its depths as if she could see through it.

"Kakashi, Ino, did you get all that?" Kurenai felt sick to her stomach, something was inherently wrong with the entire situation with Anko.

There was a double knock from the other side of the glass signaling the doctor to report to the other side. Kurenai grabbed her notepad and marched to the conference room next door. There she was greeted by an uncomfortable Ino and a reeling Kakashi.

"I'm sorry, Kakashi," Kurenai sympathized. "She's definitely using you."

"She's just a tool; they're just using her." Kakashi defended.

"But, whoever is using her sent her to you. And as the only defense against the _White Snakes _and the _Akatsuki_ we must take into account that either gang would attempt to infiltrate our facilities." Ino interjected. "Anko may not have a clue as to what she's doing, but I'm pretty sure that once she re-learns what her mission is, she will not be on our side."

"Then why would both gangs be after her?" the white-haired man retorted.

"There hasn't been an attempt on her life as of yet. And what if one gang is only pretending to be after her so that she would have a valid excuse to meet with you? And since one gang is pretending to chase after her it would only make sense that the other would find an interest in her too." Ino continued. "I don't mean to make her out to be the bad guy, but unless we know who this 'Target' individual is, we can't trust her. She was sent here to do something, Kakashi, and even you can't deny that."

"Ino is right, Kakashi. You must immediately separate yourself from her. We've already lost Temari, we can't lose you too." Kurenai agreed with the blonde. "If we don't know if Anko is a friend or a foe, there will be no helping her. I will have Hinata find more information on her and maybe it will shed some light on who Anko Mitarashi really is."

"Just give me one more night protecting her." Kakashi implored. "Tomorrow, I will have guards posted at her door."

"One more night, but that's it." Kurenai complied. "After that, until we find out more information, you must promise to not see her. It is for your own good as well as hers. It is obvious that she's quite taken with you, Kakashi, yet if her memory lapses, it could change everything she thinks of you at the moment."

"I will send Hinata right away, and Neji and I will help with the recognizance assignment." Ino nodded. "How about we end the meeting now? There's no point in wasting any more time; we all have our missions now."

"Yes, let's," Kurenai seconded the suggestion. "Asuma's probably already at the security office waiting for me."

The three made their excuses and left the observation room to their daytime posts.

XXXX

Temari let the man exit the truck half way to her destination.

"Where are you going?" The older man grumbled as he slammed the door behind him knowing that he might never see his truck again. "If there's even a scratch on my truck, I'll go to the police."

"I really don't care whether or not you go to the police at this point, old man." Temari smiled brightly. "This will probably be the last time you see me."

The man looked down at the ground considering her words. He then stuck his hands in his jacket pocket.

"What are you doing?" Temari raised her stolen S&W semi-automatic and aimed it at him.

He approached the passenger-side door of the truck slowly and tossed a case of 9mm rounds through the open window onto the seat.

"I lied before," he explained. "I know that if you had killed me, you would have found it anyway. Just…don't get yourself killed."

Temari's gaze flickered from the box on the passenger seat and to the man's serious, dark eyes. "You probably just saved my life, old man, I owe you. If I don't make it, go to Konoha Memorial Hospital and tell a man named Gaara Suna to help you get your truck back. Tell him that an old friend needs him to do her a solid."

"I'll do that, I think that you've just helped me with my writer's block." He nodded in approval. "I won't need the gun after all."

"What is your name anyway?" Temari questioned. "I'll look up your books if I have time."

"Honestly, I don't think you're the kind to go for my kind of writing."

"I don't want a review, just your name."

"Jiraiya," the old man laughed when he saw recognition enter Temari's eyes. "Or maybe, I was wrong: you are that kind of girl."

"Dirty, old pervert," Temari glared at the man before driving off, his echoing laughter filling the quiet suburban street.

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A/N:

Hello everyone, I am so happy that I finally got this chapter up. I know that a lot of you have been waiting for it, and I am happy to finally deliver. I actually wanted to end this chapter with a fight scene, but it was already too long in my opinion (5500+ words), so I'll be starting with it (the fight scene) in the next chapter.

Now, we don't know whose side Anko is on. If you think you know which side she's on, your guess would most likely be wrong because only I know which side she's on. I have a lot more action and plot twists planned, so please stay tuned!

As for Windy Days, I think that I will be putting it on temorary hiatus until Target is finished. It is very difficult for me to write a lovey-dovey romance and a dark, psycological thriller at the same time. Plus, divvying up the small amount of time I have to write is prolonging my writing to both stories. So, I would like to apologize to those who are waiting for Windy Days chapters. But, I do promise to work my very hardest to get a regular update routine for Target chapters. But, fans of Windy Days, please do not fret, I will definitely finish the story as well. I already have a full, detailed outline of what's to happen. The reason that I chose to finish writing Target before Windy days is because I believe that more people are interested in this story more; therefore I had to go with which story is more popular.

As always, I thank you, the reader, for your input and support. Please tell me what you think of the story so far, be it a positive comment or a negative one. I do try to answer all of my reviews and enquiries as soon as I can. I look forward to hearing from you!


	9. Cats and Mouse

Chapter 9: Cats and Mouse

Temari sped away to the sound of Jiraiya's amused laughter. She had to laugh at herself for kidnapping the perverted old man in the first place. How was she supposed to know that he wrote all those trashy novels that littered the girl's dormitories in college? The blonde halted her current line of thinking: it really wasn't the time to think about the old pervert and his books. She had to escape. She could hear shots fired a few streets away and it chilled her bones. If she wasn't careful, she could be at the ugly end of a gun.

Out of residual curiosity Temari started to rummage through the old pervert's car as she drove one-handed. In the glove box, there were tons of paper with tiny scribbles and lewd drawings proving that the man really was a big pervert. Then, the aircraft engineer found a couple of lighters, in which she pocketed one, and a fountain pen, which she also filched. She continued to drive straight ahead until merging into the main highway that connected all the cities in _Hi no Kuni_ or in simplest terms, Fire Country.

The former colonel had no choice but to drive on by carefully blending into the throng of cars and only changing lanes when necessary. Unfortunately, unknown to her, there were two assassins at her tail. One was atop a motorcycle flanking the right side of her stolen truck, and the other exactly three cars behind her in a dark-blue Hyundai Elantra. They had been tracking her since she had reached the gas station. Both men knew that when following a mark it is wise to see where the mark goes at least until they know that they're being followed. For Sasuke, following Temari could potentially lead him to either Anko Mitarashi or his brother, and he was willing to wait for the chance to kill either persons. And if Temari lead him to Naruto Uzumaki's ideological government, then he'd cross that bridge and make sure it burned down after him.

Yet for Sai, following after the woman would allow him a little more freedom. Danzo mentioned before that he was too pale, but it seemed that the ANBU—ROOT director wasn't aware that the reason he was so pale in the first place was because he was always stuck indoors training until the director contacted him for a mission. And even then, most of the missions he received took place in the cover of night. It had been at least four years since he'd seen both the sun rise and set.

From the time when rush hour started, traffic was accumulating northbound towards the suburbs making it difficult for all three drivers to weave freely through the traffic. Temari accelerated and kept her eyes jumping between the truck's water-stained mirrors and the road ahead. She merged into another lane ahead of a black motorcycle, keeping a look out for Sasuke's dark-blue car.

A few minutes passed and the cars were moving at a crawl-pace when most cars were trying to exit before the _Akatsuki_ and _Snake_'s territory boundary neared. Temari knew that the little neighbourhood she used to live in was the area locals called: the Hole. It's because it's located in a geological crater; a literal hole. She was only a few more minutes away from the safe house when she noticed that the volume of cars on the road dwindled to just six including her own vehicle: one was the careful motorcyclist behind her, another was a semi-truck cab without a load, there was a red muscle car with white cobra stripes, a green Dodge minivan, and a dark-blue Elantra with tinted windows.

The engineer knew that Sasuke could be in that blue car, so she made sure to know where it was in relation to her vehicle at all times although it remained a great distance behind the pack. The semi turned right in the next exit, the red car exited three stops after, leaving only the van, the blue car, the motorcycle, and her truck on the road. When Temari merged to her exit, the other three cars followed. By the time she entered the residential area again, the sun was hanging low in the sky, and what little clouds in the sky were tinged colours between pink and orange.

"Damn it," Temari cursed. It was almost night, and everyone in the Hole knew that when it was dark, all the people who wanted to live stayed indoors. Those who liked to gamble with death walked around proudly uncaring of the consequence. Kankuro was one of the latter she remembered bitterly. All the reputable stores, and some disreputable ones, were already closed and the store front windows had garage door-like, aluminum shutters covering them behind iron bars.

Temari passed by the apartment building that she had shared with her brothers. It was re-built after the fire, of course, but still looked the same. According to the files she stole from ANBU, both Gaara and Kankuro had moved away after her fake death. The green Dodge Caravan turned at the last stoplight and leaving only the motorcyclist and the tinted blue car on the road apart from her. As the number of people on the road dwindled, she felt panic settle in her stomach.

Temari gripped the steering wheel a little more tightly as fear and adrenalin pumped through her veins. She knew that assassins hated witnesses, but at the same time, she couldn't let innocent bystanders get hurt. Going to her safe house was now definitely out of the question, so Temari started to head in the opposite direction. She swerved right into a one-way street and made a left at the first side street, only the blue car was left; the motorcyclist probably stayed on the main road. She was now certain that whoever was in the blue car is after her. Out-of-towners and most locals avoided this part of the neighbourhood because of the strong smell of ammonia and methane from the waste treatment plant nearby.

Temari's only advantage is that she grew up in these streets and knew all the alley ways like the back of her hand. The blue car maintained speed and stuck to her back, indicating to both drivers that the game of cat and mouse was on. In trying to escape, Temari narrowly dodged a young couple holding hands and signaled left, reduce speed, and then accelerated straight through the four-way stop intersection. She then signalled right before turning left at a side street. It was a trick she learned training as an ANBU-black ops back in Sunagakure. She had spent a little more than a month learning to evade and pursue enemies.

Since people generally choose to use sight over all other senses when instinct kicks in, the chase becomes a battle of deception. Tricking the eyes is the best way to trick the brain in such instances. For example, when the eyes sees that a car is signalling left, the brain would automatically think that person is turning the way they signalled because that is the common knowledge. Therefore, it would take another trained operative to even keep up because a lag is created when one goes against instinct. A single second gained could be the deciding factor of whether the one being chased does or does not get away.

Regrettably for Temari, it appears that the tailing driver is one of those said trained operatives. He's managing to stay just a little more than a car length behind her. That left her with one escape maneuver option left. She decelerated so that the following car was literally an inch away from the truck's bumper; she knew that the driver would try to hit her off the road if given a chance, but she kept pace with him so that it wouldn't leave him a lot of room to maneuver around her truck when the time came. Temari then continued to play her signal-light game with him. She turned right without signalling and then turned left while signalling right. Then, when she felt that the driver of the car behind her had fallen into a false sense of security, she accelerated before quickly signalling left again, and turned the way she signalled: left. A half-a-second glance at her rear-view mirror showed that the blue car had driven past despite the sudden squeal of the brakes; she was silently thanking God for ABS. Temari maintained 60 mph and turned and weaved through different side streets away from the tailing car. She let out a sigh of utter relief when she knew that she was some distance away. She didn't even know she was holding her breath for as long as she did. She could hear sirens caterwauling in the background. It seemed that sirens were always on around here.

The aircraft engineer then made her way around a rotunda and turned right into the next street before pressing down on the clutch, put her shift in neutral and hit the brakes. The motorcycle from earlier was idling in the middle of the narrow residential road. The man atop the bike had one long leg stretched out to keep balance. A normal human reaction would be to honk, or roll down the window, or get out of the car and tell the guy to get off the road, but Temari was suspicious of the biker despite his scrawny-looking physique. She knew that most successful spies and assassins were ones that didn't look like spies or assassins at all. This guy could be one of Danzo's men or a friend of Sasuke Uchiha.

The Resistance-runaway took hold of her stolen gun and placed a finger on the trigger. She hefted the weapon in her left hand hanging out of the driver-side window so he could see what she was holding above the side-mirror.

"That's right, look here." She muttered under her breath before waving her other hand signalling hime to get off the road and let her through. Knowing that there was a chance he wouldn't let her through, the blonde woman stopped waving her right arm and moved the shifter into reverse gear.

Instead, the man flipped up the tinted visor of his helmet to reveal a boyishly, beaming face. He couldn't be much older than she when she had joined the Resistance, Temari noted as she thought to herself. His bright smile was almost enough to disarm her suspicion until she looked back at the hand that had flipped up the helmet visor moments before. It was now holding a pistol, complete with a silencer, and Temari knew that by the way his eyes turned cold despite his wide grin showed that he wasn't one to miss a shot. At less than twenty-five feet away, there was no way that he could miss; that is if she stayed still.

Keeping her fear in check, Temari smiled back as she pulled her left arm back through the window making him think that she was considering defeat. While in fact, she had the complete opposite planned. First, she tapped lightly on the clutch causing the car to surge forward before slamming her right foot on the gas pedal as she turned the steering wheel to the right. There was a whizzing sound of air being released through the silencer along with the bullet and the windshield in front of her shattered as did the passenger side window. The car was turned length-wise on the width of the single lane road, giving Temari momentary cover.

The man had gotten off of his motorcycle and started to advance on the truck, shooting shot after shot into the passenger side of the truck. Temari continued to struggle as she blindly ducked behind the dash. She grabbed the recyclable bag that held her belongings and tore the handles to use them to fasten the bag around her waist. Next, she stabbed her knife through the inside of her boot so the blade stuck awkwardly by her ankle, but it stayed put as the tip of the knife was embedded in the thick rubber soles. As other shots were fired blowing out the truck's tires, Temari knew that she couldn't keep her promise to Jiraiya after all; there would be no truck waiting for him at the police station in the morning, nor a salvageable one at that. But, she knew that he must have known that.

Temari quickly checked the magazine of the pistol and deduced that there were only six or seven bullets left. She could work with that. The blonde engineer pulled out the door handle to disengage the door lock and tumbled out of the truck. The biker continued to advance a stoic expression on his face; she could barely determine if his eyes were really as soulless as they seem.

She quickly moved to the bed-end of the truck and peered over to see exactly where her attacker was. A bullet whizzed by her cheek, cutting it. It was only a flesh wound, but this guy was good, she thought to herself. Still, she had dealt with worse in Kirigakure. She was about to make a run into the alley forty feet away to her right, when she caught sight of the blue Elantra. It didn't drive toward her, though; it turned right instead. Was there a chance that she wasn't seen? Impossible. Or did the driver decide to leave because he saw that his partner, the motorcyclist, had it covered?

Temari was about to run into the alley way, gun ready for return fire, when next she heard a loud bang echo in the empty street. This was odd since the motorcycle assassin had a silencer. She risked another peak and saw that the blue car was now parked almost parallel to her truck having come out from the alley that she had been planning to escape to. Lights came on at one of the residences nearby.

She slowly rounded the blue car and saw Sasuke Uchiha hovering over the motorcyclist. The biker had blood seeping out of his left leg, but only his eyes showed pain.

"Where is she?" Sasuke asked the other man as he stepped on the biker's wound, driving the bullet deeper. "You know, if that bullet goes any deeper, you'll bleed out."

The wounded man cried out, but apart from that, he stayed silent.

Something in Temari was repulsed by the scene, she had trained the Uchiha in Kirigakure and to think that her training helped him become someone like this made her sick. She could just run away now, and not look back. The biker assassin deserved to die for trying to kill her anyway, but walking away from someone helpless wasn't something she could do. Sirens were close by and getting louder as they approached.

"I'll ask you one more time, Mr. Silent, where is she? Where is Anko Mitarashi?" Sasuke urged as he pressed a gun to the man's throat. "Tell me or I'll make sure you never say another word again."

"Not, my mission," the wounded assassin finally choked out.

"But, you know her." Sasuke stated. "Who do you work for?"

He stepped again on the man's leg, relishing the sound of an agony-filled scream.

Temari quietly snuck behind the Elantra to the gas tank door. She used the knife in her boot to pry the door open, knowing that any noise she made would be tuned out by the police cars approaching. Someone must have reported that gunshot. The blonde technician knew that she would have less than a second to get out of the way of the car's blast if she was going to do what she had planned, but she felt that she had to choice. Temari pulled out the stolen lighter from her pocket, lit a flame and tossed it into the blue Elantra's gas tank. She was barely able to jump up into the air over Jiraiya's truck to get away when the blast propelled her inside the bed of the truck. She landed on her arm in the empty bed but had to put out the fire on her faded, leather jacket. She rolled on her back, but the flames wouldn't let up. The ex-Resistance agent was forced to discard her burning jacket on the ground along with the USB containing stolen files. There was little consolation for losing those files, but at least she saved the recycled bag with the stuff she stole from the convenience store. Her gun was thrown out of her hand and landed a little ways away from her. She bent down to pick up her weapon before hopping out of the truck bed and went to check out the damage she caused the assassins, her weapon drawn.

As she rounded the car, she quickly spotted Sasuke Uchiha unconscious on the ground a few feet away. The other assassin managed to turn his back, so his grey jacket took most of the heat. Temari pulled the injured assassin up, took off his jacket and used it to douse the flames on his legs and feet, before staring straight into his eyes.

"Because of you, I lost something very important to me, so now, I need to know what you know." Temari lifted his face closer to hers. "Where are you from?"

The man only smiled again, "You looked better in your picture." He quipped.

"You're from ANBU—ROOT, then." Temari stated. "They're the only ones who have—I mean—had a file on me. The Akatsuki don't even know I exist.

"And clearly, he," Temari paused looking at the unconscious Uchiha, "Is with the White Snakes."

"You're smarter than you look," The assassin replied. "But, you talk too much."

"Well, you won't hear me talking for much longer. I just want you to know that you are now my hostage and that you're a terrible assassin." Temari raised the butt of her gun and cracked it down on the assassin's head, knocking him out, his smile not fading. It saved him from the pain in his wounded leg, and it saved her the pain of having him imply that she was ugly one more time.

She holstered her gun by tucking it in the front of her jeans before she tried to lift him off the ground. She hefted his arm over her shoulder and started to walk to his parked motorcycle, half lifting, half dragging him along the way. Once at the motorcycle, she could hear police cars flooding the far end of the narrow street bringing with them the crescendo of sirens. Temari found a satchel on the ground beside the motorcycle, probably belonging to her new hostage. She hoisted him up on the low-scooped seat, seating him the way a driver would sit on a motorcycle. But, since he was unconscious, his body was tilted all the way back; laid down. Temari wrapped the strap of the satchel around his back, under his armpits, and around a wrist on both sides to hoist him up to a seating position as well as keep his hands bound. She then sat in his lap and wrapped the bag end of the satchel around herself so that he was now pressed to her back—with his head overhanging her shoulder—via satchel strap while his hands were kept pressed to the her sides where she could tell where they were at all times. She turned on the ignition when a voice called to her.

"Hey you: stop!" it was a police officer.

Knowing that she wouldn't be able to explain the unconscious man on her back or the car on fire in front of her, she decided to try to run away. Usually, Temari respected the authorities, but if they found out that she is supposed to be dead, they would only let loose a lot of trouble for themselves. As a military trained person, she knew when to fight and when to retreat. This was definitely a time to retreat. She managed to turn the motorcycle all the way around when the officer unholstered his piece, a Glock 9mm. The click of the safety being disengaged reached her sensitive ears and halted her movements.

"Do not resist or I will fire!" he demanded whilst squaring his shoulders, taking a shooting stance, aiming at the ex-colonel.

Temari huffed a frustrated sigh before swiveling her head to catch the police officer's hard stare. She had to play this cool or else the guy was going to panic and shoot someone. At least the other cops were still busy trying to contain the fire until the firemen got there. The street was so narrow that they'd be lucky to fit one fire truck on the street.

"I'm with ANBU, and this guy behind me is with ROOT," she told him. "Just take care of that guy in front of the car, he's with the _Snakes_. He's the only one you have to arrest."

"Sorry, ma'am, I can't let you go until we have proof of your claims." The police officer reminded Temari of Kakashi: always by the book. It was either that, or the guy was new.

"Okay," Temari reached for her own 9mm pistol at the waistband of her jeans and shot the gun out of the officer's hand without batting an eye. The man lost his grip on the gun as it ricocheted off of his shoulder and flew back behind him. "Is that enough proof for you, officer? Have a great evening!"

Temari waved her gun in the air in salute and sped off leaving the poor man groping for his gun in the dark. She increased her speed as other officers ran towards them after hearing the gunshot. Temari only tucked her weapon back into the waistband of her jeans and held both handles of the bike so she can prop herself off of the assassin's lap. It was bad enough that he was stuck to her back, she didn't want him any closer than he had to be. It was unfortunate that she had to be in an uncomfortable squat. But, the good news is, since she lost the two assassins that could be after her, she was now safe to go to her safe house. And, for her hostage's sake, getting there faster would ensure he didn't bleed out.

"Talk about keeping your enemies closer." She muttered under her breath turning her head to glance at the unconscious man's head lolling by her right cheek, his breath touching her ear.

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A/N:

Hello everyone! Thank you for reading this slightly shorter, but hopefully still interesting chapter. This chapter was supposed to be a lot longer, but because of the length of the original draft, I chose to split it in half. For those of you who were looking forward to some Kakashi and Anko character dynamics, I am sorry it is not in this chapter (because I cut it in half), although it will be in the next chapter (I promise, scout's honour!).

I do have what I call the skeletal draft of the next chapter done, but I still have to do some more research and a lot more writing to get some more meat on the story (so it feels like we're actually going somewhere with this). I guess you can view this chapter as a kick-ass filler, or a convoluted bore-fest.

Either way, please review to tell me your thoughts, I am always happy to hear from you.


	10. Death Call

**Chapter Ten: Death Call**

Sasuke knew that he'd messed up. He should have killed that Temari woman first before he interrogated the pale assassin. He was now surrounded by cops and was pretending to be unconscious. There was only one serious burn on his arm when a car part flew up and hit him, but apart from that, he was fine. However, his body did feel a little jumbled from landing on the ground so hard.

He overheard the blonde woman accuse the other assassin of working for ANBU-ROOT before knocking the poor guy out. If that was the case, what was the pale assassin doing hunting down Temari Suna? A more important question would be: did that mean that Anko Mitarashi found help with the government after all? And if Temari escaped from ANBU-ROOT, and the other man was sent to silence her, why would she save him?

Sasuke kept his eyes close, and waited for a couple of paramedics to pull him up from the ground and onto a stretcher. He allowed them to rearrange his body to a more comfortable position on his back and waited until he heard the ambulance's siren come to life and the vehicle lurch to a start.

"Hey, Mark, you drive us back." A male voice demanded, probably from the passenger seat up front. "I'll stay at the back with Di, and the police officer."

"Aw, come on, Drew, I drove us here, why can't I sit in the back?"

"Sorry, newbie, but we have to pull seniority over you, Drew and I have been doing this for years, so you can drive us back." A female voice chimed in through a tiny window connecting the back section of the ambulance to the front cab. "Besides, if anything happens to the patient, we're responsible. We'll be sure to keep this shut so you can concentrate on driving." She teased. There was only a sigh of resignation as the vehicle moved forward with the two medics and the cop in the back of the ambulance.

From listening to the conversation, the assassin knew that apart from the driver, there were two paramedics and one police officer in the back with him. And, because the idiots had so quickly deemed him harmless, and assumed that he was an unarmed victim, they hadn't confiscated the switchblade tucked in an ankle holster at his leg.

A few minutes later, there was a beep and a hiss at the officer's radio.

"Sir," there was a crackle on the radio. "10-66…10-0…"

"What do you mean 10-66? Over." The officer laughed. "He's probably a rookie," He explained to the medics over the loud wail of the siren.

"Okay, Mac, where's the 10-66? Over." The policeman spoke into his radio.

"He's…the ambulance…" a crackle broke up the sentence. "Sir, you…out!"

"Sorry, Mac, 10-1, I can't understand what you're saying. We're almost at the hospital, a few minutes away. 10-3, over." That said, the officer clicked off his radio and continued to talk to the two medics.

Sasuke knew what the codes meant. Someone out there was trying to warn the policeman that there was a suspicious person in the ambulance, to be cautious, and to get out. This didn't leave the assassin too much time to get away. Luckily, he had the upper hand in this fight. Before, either the policeman or the two medics knew what was going on, Sasuke had lifted off the stretcher and grabbed his knife. He made quick do with the police officer by stabbing the man in the leg.

The dark-eyed assassin stared into the bleeding man's eyes as the officer realized what the rookie on the other end of the radio was trying to tell him. The two medics screamed but the sound was drowned out by the siren. Sasuke smiled as he stabbed one in the gut the other in the neck; that silenced them. The officer was slowly, but surely bleeding out despite the pressure he placed on his own leg, the crimson blood of his three victims pooled and mingled together on the grey-coloured floor of the ambulance. It was impossible to know if the two paramedics were still alive or not. The cop grabbed for his gun.

"I don't think you want to do that." Sasuke warned him with a smirk.

"Die, bastard!" The cop pulled the trigger of the gun aimed at Sasuke's face. There was a loud click, but no bang.

The assassin's smile disappeared.

"You forgot to turn off the safety." He stated grimly, he didn't want to have to kill the cop considering that he respected the men in blue. His father, as well as most of his relatives, was a police officer. But, this man gave him no choice.

The man clutching his gun with shaking hands only had time to look at his killer's eyes before feeling the other man's knife drive into his chest, pull out, and his reality going dark. Sasuke hated going for what other assassins called the kill shot. Piercing the heart in the right ventricle or any major artery always results in a quick death, it was the type of death he tried to avoid giving. But, now wasn't the time for slow deaths. He had to get these bodies ready by the time they reached the hospital. Sasuke grabbed the gun from the policeman's hand and tucked it into the waistband of his pants at the small of his back. He then hefted the officer and dragged the dead man's muscular bulk to the top of the stretcher. The dark-haired man then took hold of the petite, red-headed medic and placed her tiny frame beside the officer's on the steel-framed bed. He then seized the last medic by the arms, ignoring the glittering wedding band on his left hand and placed the dead or dying corpse on top of the other two the best he could before using the side straps of the stretcher to strap all three to the bed.

Now, there was only one more guy to silence. After peeking out a tiny side window, he knew that he only had less than five minutes left before they reached Konoha Memorial. Sasuke had no choice but to wait it out in the steel contraption smelling of death. When the ambulance halted at the emergency doors, Sasuke was ready. He released the brakes on the stretcher, and when doctors and nurses opened the doors he pushed the stretcher of bodies into their awaiting hands.

There was a deafening silence before a crescendo of screams. The assassin used this time to exit the cab and move to the driver's side of the vehicle. The driver was caught unawares and was quickly pulled out of the cab and thrown into the ground. Before he could even comprehend what just happened, he was watching the ambulance speed away. When the young medic looked towards the screams, his face paled and his stomach dropped.

XXXX

Temari looked across the room, and watched the unconscious man wearily. He wasn't supposed to be here. She kept her distance from him just in case he was conscious and planning a way to overpower her. Now the man had her paranoid as well as sleep deprived.

"Damn it, I should have left him." She thought aloud.

She had arrived at the safe house the night before with the ANBU-ROOT assassin in tow and had lost sleep over the rude man while tending to his wounds. He was lucky that it was a relatively clean shot. There was no bone damage and the bullet was easy enough to extract. She didn't know what to do with him besides allowing him to sleep. If she lets him go, he would report to Danzo, but if she kept him around, she would probably end up with a bullet through the head.

"Temari, you said I only had to hide one person, not two, let alone an injured, banged-up kid."

"I'm sorry, Tsunade, I can't let him go." Temari apologized to the older woman.

"Fell in love with the idiot, huh?" Tsunade shrugged and sighed as if she understood the foolish sentiment. "You couldn't bear the thought of never seeing him again so you brought him along, but then he got shot up in the escape."

"No, he tried to kill me, but was shot by another assassin with the same mission, but for a different leader. And, if I let him go, he'll just go straight to his boss and tell him where I am. Or if he's as good an assassin that I expect he is, he won't stop until I'm dead. I think it's better to keep him here, so I know that he's not hiding behind some corner waiting to kill me."

"Then you should kill him to silence him up." Tsunade replied as she sat down on a rickety chair beside the mercenary's bed. "If this man is being paid to kill you, then you should save yourself the trouble and get rid of him now."

Temari was surprised at Tsunade's words. They weren't words the older woman would usually say; especially, when the said woman was a doctor.

"What?" Temari's voice finally escaped in a squeak.

Tsunade turned to look at the unconscious man's pallid face. "I'm just telling you what the most practical thing to do would be. But, you know, this guy looks pretty good for an assassin. Dark hair-" She pulled up the man's eye-lids, "Dark eyes, and fair skin. He's a little scrawny, but after helping you stitch up that hole in his leg, he's got proportionate muscularity." The older woman nodded with approval.

It was Temari's turn to look at the man in the bed. She had tied his hands to the bed at the sides so he'd have more difficulty escaping and a little piece of mind for her. But, apart from the odd position he was in, she had to admit that he was attractive.

"If I didn't know you better, I'd think you had a crush on the kid, Tsunade." Temari teased. She and Tsunade had agreed to call the man "the kid" because of his boyish features. But, after a finding needle marks on the man's arm from vaccinations given to soldiers during the Kirigakure war, Tsunade confirmed that the man had to be at least in his mid-twenties and had served in the war for a lengthy period of time.

"Well, if only I were about three decades younger, then I might have had a chance."

"Don't get too attached to this patient, Tsunade, this man is a trained killer, and would kill you the first chance he'd get. And when he was conscious, he's the most aggravating man. He gave me no choice but to knock him out just to shut him up."

"I think that you're the one who should be careful," Tsunade turned back to speak to Temari face to face. "Love sometimes begins with aggravation. When you care enough about someone, and what they have to say, it begins to piss you off."

Temari laughed at the genuine consternation on Tsunade's face. As if _she _of all people would fall in love with a hired gun. Serving in the military taught her that men with guns were the same as dogs with teeth: when a dog is irritated or threatened they bite, and when a man with a gun is in the same situation, they shoot. She stood up from her chair across the room, and walked closer to the bed at her matronly friend's side. Both women regarded the man's wounds.

"So, you're saying that you know you've fallen in love when the other person pisses you off?" The dark-eyed woman surmised matter-of-factly. "That seems a little backwards to me."

Tsunade checked the pulse on her patient and, after finding it regular, proceeded to grab her work bag. It was time to change the man's bandages. Once her medical tools were laid out on the bed in preparation, she continued their conversation.

"Answer me this then," The blonde doctor explained. "Do you love your brother?"

"Yes, of course," Temari answered firmly. "I wouldn't be here compromising my life if I didn't."

"And has he ever pissed you off? You know, has he ever gotten on your nerves, said something rude, or done something to drive you up the wall?"

"Yes, but—"

"Then, there you go, it's called love." Tsunade retorted. "I rest my case."

"It's not the same, Tsunade," Temari whispered as Tsunade cut off the dirty bandages, preparing to apply a healing salve and new gauze. "I know my brother, but I don't know this lunatic assassin."

"Well, Temari, every relationship starts as strangers. But, there are qualities that attract and facilitate love that bring strangers to get to know each other. Besides, which one of us has more experience in love?" Tsunade pressed a cotton ball with antiseptic into the wound.

The question would go unanswered when the man immediately jumped up off the bed. The twine ties at his wrists became useless heaps on the floor. The dark assassin's eyes were wild for a moment until he took in his surroundings. The hole in his leg started to bleed profusely when he flexed his quadriceps and the healing layer of skin tore.

Tsunade was in shock, tweezers in hand poised above where his leg was but a moment ago. Temari on the other hand already had her stolen gun drawn and pointed at the man.

"Do not move an inch or I will shoot you!" She ordered, aiming for the assassin's face. "I'm serious!"

The assassin backed away to a wall for the room had no windows.

Temari knew that if she took a shot, there was a chance that neighbours would call the cops, and she'd had enough of cops these last couple of days. But, there must be a way to get the man to drop his guard without either of them losing their life.

"You're bleeding out." She told him indicating his open wound. "If you don't let us help you you're going to die."

The kid stayed silent, ignoring her warning. He regarded his injured leg and placed his open palm on his thigh to stem the bleeding. It didn't help much and only covered his hand in blood.

"Listen to me, kid, I can help you out. But, if you try to escape, I have to kill you." Temari tried to reason with him once more.

"I'm not a kid," he winced at the pain as he applied more pressure to the wound. There was still that boyish glimmer in his eye as if he was enjoying taunting her. "I'm older than you."

It wasn't the answer she was expecting, but Temari watched him sway and his shoulder hit the wall behind him while blood dripped past his hand and down his leg to stain the floor. The suture that Tsunade placed probably ripped.

Temari backed to the door, opened it, and tossed her weapon out of the room before shutting it again. "There, I'm unarmed, now let us help you."

The kid only looked confused by her actions. The blonde war veteran decisively chose this time to launch herself at the bleeding man. There was a surprised yelp from Tsunade as both bodies hit the floor with a loud thump and a pain-filled groan. Temari immobilized the assassin using her knees to hold his hands to the floor and slapping her palm on the side of his bleeding thigh. The jarring of the surrounding area near wound incapacitated him from fighting back.

"I warned you." She told him when he started to curse obscenely. "Tsunade, get a tranquilizer ready."

"I'm already ahead of you," Tsunade came up to the engineer and the assassin with a needle. She found a protruding vein on the man's straining arms and injected the tranquilizer. In a matter of minutes, the assassin's body became pliant and the trail of obscenities ended.

"I think it's safe to get off of him," Tsunade told Temari.

"One more test," Temari answered by adding pressure to the bullet hole in his leg. "Yup, he's out cold. I told you he was rude."

Temari released the man's arms and helped the doctor drag him back onto the bed.

"This time, I'm going to zip-tie that bum leg of his to the bed too." She said as she grabbed a bundle of plastic ties from a nearby cabinet. "If he keeps tearing the wound open, we'll run out of medical supplies."

"It won't be easy getting him on our side," Tsunade told her looking away from the pool of blood on the floor.

"I don't want him on our side." Temari muttered as she affixed his leg to the bed's footing and moved on to tie his hands to the bed again, this time with the zip-ties. "But, I don't want him dead either."

"What are you going to do now?" Tsunade asked her.

"I'm going to help you stitch that gaping hole closed, then I'm going to take a shower." Temari smiled at the older woman. "After that, I can go run out and buy some food if you don't want to eat canned meat again."

"I don't want you to leave me alone with him." The doctor voiced worriedly. "What if he wakes up and goes on a rampage again?"

"If he does, I'll kill him."

The answer was met by silent surprise. Soon, the silence wore on as both women cleaned, stitched, and bandaged the assassin's wounds.

XXXX

**Four Days later…**

"I know where she is," Sasuke announced to his superior.

Kabuto looked at the younger man with an expectant look. The other man's shirt and trousers were covered in blood and had been gone for a few of days without checking in. Although it seemed prepostrous at the time, Kabuto did have a feeling that Sasuke was the one responsible for the killings in the ambulance in which the stories were all over the news. And the way that the dark-haired man looked just proved it.

"Did you find her?" The new _Snakes_ leader asked mockingly. After hearing about Sasuke's mistake in letting Temari Suna escape, made him lose respect for the younger man.

"Yes," the answer surprised Kabuto.

"How did you find her?" Kabuto continued his line of questioning.

"I ran into an old war buddy of mine. You might know her, her name is Temari Suna. She led me to believe that Anko Mitarashi is now with the government." Sasuke supplied the information. "Colonel Suna worked with Naruto Uzumaki and his band of idiots. And, it proves that Kakashi Hatake is a government spy. Temari Suna who was my supervising officer during the war is supposed to be dead and yet she isn't. Only the government can hush up a decorated colonel's death and make it look like an accident. I believe that it was her way of escaping to become a part of Naruto's secret police."

"So, the rumour of Uzumaki's resistance army is true? How do you know all of this?"

"I went back to where I lost Temari and found this." Sasuke pulled out a USB stick where most of the plastic was burnt and melted.

"This is unusable information, destroyed." Kabuto noted dismissing the flimsy evidence. "We can't extract any files from that. How do you know this Temari character is even with Naruto Uzumaki? She could just be another war-veteran trying to forget the past."

"The information isn't in files that were on the USB, it is the USB itself." Sasuke commented as if trying to explain to a child. "The USB is manufactured by a crown company, the same government-owned company that supplies government offices with paperclips and file folders. And if you look here,"

At this point, then dark-haired man pulled of the melted cap, along with a piece of chip that used to be the cap of the USB stick. "This serial number helps to identify where this USB drive was processed and ultimately shipped to."

Kabuto smiled predatorily, realizing what the melted plastic signified. "Where is she?"

"According to a stolen shipping slip from FedEx, this was sent straight to Uzumaki's mansion." Sasuke paused for effect, but got nothing but an impatient glare, "It means that Anko is staying at the seventh president's chalet home, and so is his army. And that's where I got these."

He dipped his hand into his pocket before holding out a handful of purple hair, Anko's hair, and dropped it onto Kabuto's desk.

"What are you going to do with her, then?"

"What do you want me to do with her?" Sasuke asked the new _Snakes_ leader.

"I want her dead." Kabuto pushed his spectacles up higher on the bridge of his slightly crooked nose. "You got that, Uchiha?"

"Yes," Sasuke still didn't understand why Kabuto wanted to waste his talents to hunt down a woman that he could have killed a long time ago. But it was his mission to follow orders.

XXXX

Anko observed the deep brush, weeds, and thorns encasing the compound fence through her window. It was a conglomerate of greens, blacks, and yellows—an imposing wall to remind her that there was no way out for her. After Temari's escape, she wasn't allowed to leave the building and was given guards to escort her everywhere. Kakashi had become very withdrawn and usually left her to her own devices as he went about his own. It was clear to her that the Resistance spy didn't have the same feelings for her as he had so hurriedly professed before. There were times when she wouldn't see him and others when he would ignore her. There was even once instance where she caught his eye when she was being escorted to her therapy session and he quickly turned his attention to start a conversation with the timid socialite princess, Hinata, who was at his side.

Anko reached into her pocket for the knife that had kept her company since her escape from the White Snakes, but remembered a moment later that it had been taken away by the guards who protected her. Did freedom from one thing mean to be prisoner of another?

There was a perfunctory knock at her door, a pause, and then Kurenai and Sakura emerged. A part of her wanted to crane her neck to the side to see if Kakashi was hiding behind the two women, but reason and logical thinking told her that he wouldn't be there.

"Anko," the red-eyed therapist asked her, "How are you feeling today?"

She gave a non-committed shrug to indicate that all was well, or that she didn't care.

"I understand that you're not used to being in a position like this?" Kurenai continued.

"And what position would that be?" Anko retorted a little too snappily.

"To be protected." Was the other woman's reply, "To have your independence and freedom taken away and to depend on strangers for your survival?"

Anko's jaw went slack. The psychologist nailed her thoughts—ever since she'd been separated from Kakashi—on the proverbial head. Just a thought of him made her vulnerable and self-conscious because she cared what he thought of her.

"How is he?" she asked Kurenai this almost every day since the separation.

"He's well." Kurenai stated. "He's really busy with a lot of things. He's looking for more information on Kabuto Yakushi and Sasuke Uchiha. We have information that Sasuke is looking for you. And we found out that Sasuke went after Temari five days ago. Temari is now in hiding; location unknown. As for Sasuke, we have to prepare for the strong possibility that he's going to come here for you."

"Let him come." Anko sighed as she sat down on the love-seat in the living area of her new cage. "I can take care of myself. Besides, I've told you everything I know about the _White Snakes_, so, you probably don't need me anymore."

"What makes you say that?" Kurenai asks empathetically, using calm, soothing voice. The same practiced voice Anko heard from many social workers when dealing with orphans such as herself.

Anko quickly got up from the couch, her back ridged and poised to attack.

"Damn it, Kurenai, what do _you_ think it means?" she retorted. "It means exactly what you think it means. I've always known that I barely had a shot in hell to get through this. I knew that once Orochimaru died, Kabuto would take over and I would become his first choice when choosing a corpse."

"But, you're not dead, Anko. Kakashi—"

"Doesn't give a damn about a woman who slept with men for information," Anko interrupted roughly, pausing as she ran her fingers through her thick mane. "Did you know I actually prayed before I broke into Kakashi's house? Do you want to know what I prayed for that night?"

Both Kurenai and Sakura stayed silenct at her outburst, studying her.

"I prayed that he would kill me on sight. I prayed that he would kill me and quickly end my miserable life." Anko continued, when the two doctors didn't respond, and started pacing in front of the door like a caged animal. "And do you want to know what he did instead?"

Anko took a resigned sign before going on. "He let me sleep in his bed while he slept on the floor for two nights. He always looked at my face when I was talking to him. He never made a move on me or tried to get me to pay him back. He just saved me, without expecting anything in return. He's a bloody white knight!"

At this point, the purple-haired woman paused in reflection.

Sakura simply walked over to Anko and took her hands in hers.

"Do you want to know why he's like that? Why he cares so much?" Sakura led the other woman to sit on the couch once more. Once they were seated, and Kurenai was seated on a chair across from them, Sakura began to tell Anko the story of her former teacher, and friend.

"Kakashi used to be a cop as you probably already know." Sakura started. "When he first started working for the Konoha police force, he was partnered with a fellow rookie officer, Obito Uchiha. They were on a routine traffic stop, and were about to finish their shift when he spotted an old car going suspiciously slow. Kakashi thought that the vehicle might have belonged to the _White Snakes_ and wanted to stop it. Obito, on the other hand, tried to stop him saying that it was a rookie move going after a gang member without back up. Well, Kakashi didn't listen; he still stopped the car. And once the car stopped, the driver opened fire and Obito was shot…fatally."

"Since then," the pink-haired doctor continued, "Kakashi will never forget that his pride cost him the life of his partner. Don't you see, Anko? Kakashi is staying away from you to keep you safe, he knows that he can't be attached to you because any feelings he has for you, or you for him, would jeopardize our mission and complicate your life. He won't let anyone lose their lives for his own personal feelings no matter how deep it may be."

Anko recognized her selfishness. Here she was lamenting that Kakashi refused to see her, when in fact, he couldn't see her, and he couldn't let himself love her because of the greater good of the Resistance. No matter how much he loved her, and she him, it just wasn't in fate's hand to let them be together; at least, not in this lifetime.

"I-I'd like to be alone, now." The purple-haired spy announced shakily. "I need to think."

The two doctors nodded to each other in understanding and then shortly exited the room without another word.

XXXX

Anko gazed into space on the couch, unmoving for a long time. It wasn't until she heard the clock in the hall chime midnight that she became aware of the time passed. As she lifted herself off of the couch, there was soft knock at her door. Normally, it wouldn't have garnered her attention, but it was as if the person beyond the door called to her.

She opened the door to reveal the man who she had been so heart-sick over. A part of her hated the fact that he awoken such pitiful emotions in her, but another part hoped that he would still care for her despite the fact that it hurt him terribly. All they needed to do was fight; fight to live and fight for each other. Anko quickly decided that Kakashi Hatake would be worth the fight.

Silence settled between them until Anko reached up to embrace him. He complied in the way that a drug addict would comply to using again. He inhaled the scent which uniquely belonged to her, and allowed his body to warm hers. In return, she clutched him to herself, almost refusing to let him go; afraid that he would leave her again.

"You could have just told me the truth, you asshole." She murmured affectionately into his ear.

"I didn't want to make it worse," he articulated awkwardly. "I didn't want you to think that it could ever work out between us."

Anko pulled back. "It can work out." She told him desperately, clutching his hands in hers. "Once Kabuto dies—"

"Someone will take his place, and the person after him will die and someone else with take his place. It's called a vicious cycle and it doesn't end." Kakashi replied stoically: his cold demeanor a stark contrast from his warm hands. He took a step away from her as if regarding her as something to be feared. Anko felt a chill possess her body at the absence of him.

"I came here to tell you that I am sorry for saying that I love you. I should have considered where my duties lie and used my head and not my emotions." The Resistance spy voiced. "I know that nothing can ever happen between us especially when a war is about to break out."

"So, this is what you want after all." Anko nodded numbly, agreeing to the new terms of their relationship. He wouldn't fight for her after all. He was just another coward she let into her heart. Orochimaru was the same: all promises but no follow-through. "You want to take back saying that you love me, don't you?"

The mostly rhetoric question turned stale in the air between them, neither knowing what the other wanted or what they should do now. Kakashi stuffed his hands in his pockets, refusing to be tempted by the dejected expression on her face. He did want her and love her, but people's lives are on the line. The fact of the matter was, Anko Mitarashi, was sent to him by the person known as the Target and nothing is going to change that fact. He couldn't put the others in potential danger on the off chance that she doesn't remember her mission.

"Yes, I want to go back." He told her solemnly. "Maybe if we'd met under different circumstances or if I wasn't who I am and you aren't who you are—or were—it would have worked out, but right now, we're in the middle of a war where the odds are against us, and you have two of the deadliest syndicates after you for reasons unknown."

At the reasoning, Anko started to laugh. She remembered how her foster father would make excuses to stay out of her life. At first she believed him when he told her that he couldn't attend her track meets because he was trying to create a way to improve the world through his work. But, when she learned what he was actually doing: killing people and creating addictive and dangerous drugs, she gave up on hoping in his empty promises. She should have known that Kakashi was the same type of man. He dangled an addicting hope in front of her, only to rip it away when she let her guard down. Tears started to run down her cheeks.

"Why are you laughing?" Kakashi asked confused. "It's not funny."

Anko howled even louder as if he told her the funniest joke in the world. Her sides were hurting and her lungs begged for air, but she couldn't stop her incessant tittering. Maybe she was going mad. She swiped at her tears, but they wouldn't let up. They couldn't until Kakashi was erased from her memory.

If Kakashi had learned anything about Anko, it was that she would never tell him that she hurt. Everything he'd said to hurt her was taken as a joke and she would only flirt back coyly, toying with his willpower. But, from witnessing her therapy sessions with Kurenai, he also knew that Anko was broken to the point that her mind refused to remember the pain she felt. Maybe her laughter was a cry of pain and her tears a silent plea to stop hurting her.

Kakashi disregarded his duty for the Resistance, for the moment, and pulled her in close to his heart. He held her against him until her giggles became sobs—until her tears of false amusement became those of anguish. He knew that he would never love a woman as much as her.

"Don't be afraid," he whispered softly in her ear. "I will protect you until the day I die."

She replied by sealing her lips to his hoping that she can learn to believe his words. His lips slanted against hers and the tension between them became a molten, liquid fire seducing their last restraints like strings on a Spanish guitar. She could feel his heartbeat race against her own. Just when they were about to give into pleasure, she pushed him away.

He stared at her; his cute, startled countenance enticing her to give in, yet logic made her immune.

"I don't sleep with men that I like, remember?" She explained to him full of false bravado and a saucy smirk.

He only nodded, understanding that it was her defence mechanism at work again. Joke and pretend so that she could survive another day. Well, he would do anything to let her survive.

"I can't afford to sleep with you." She murmured so he can barely hear her reasoning. She couldn't afford to give herself to Kakashi knowing that there would be an end. Or that one day he would leave her as a hollow husk without a heart. "I know I won't survive if I do."

"Same goes for me," He replied truthfully. He decided to steer the conversation back to a lighter mood. "So, I guess I'll be on your couch for the night then."

"You don't have to stay," she told him. "I'm a big girl, and I can protect myself."

"I know, but I want to stay." He said as he lifted her hand to his lips before crudely adding: "Just in case you change your mind."

Anko laughed at the joke.

"Get out!" she guffawed, trying to look stern but failing miserably.

"I'll just be in the next room if you want to cuddle." He offered once more going along with the act, escorting her to her bedroom door. "Or if you want a kiss goodnight."

"Not in this lifetime Hatake," She teased, but the pain still reached her heart because it was the truth: they couldn't be anything more to each other in this lifetime.

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A/N: I know, I know, it was a long wait for this chapter too. But, what else is new? I've been really busy with work, volunteer jobs, and now, I've joined a musical group.; talk about spreading yourself out too thin. Life's been hitting me a mile a minute and all I can do is take its punches like an amateur boxer. I'm still writing as much as I can, and doing my best to update, it's just that sometimes when I plan on taking the time to write, something more urgent pops up: whether it's an emergency musical practice, rush-deadlines at work, or singing for a concert at the local Church, to name a few things. Hopefully, I still get points for trying, I'm really stubborn and always finish what I set out to do.

Some points I want to address in this chapter:

1. Sasuke being a merciless/ruthless killer (Sorry, Sasuke fans). This scene was created when I watched too many murder-mystery shows (ex. Elementary, Bones, Dexter, Burn Notice, and Miss Marple to name a few) and true crime shows (most shows on ID - Investigation Discovery). It's a heedy mix concoction that will have anyone thinking about murder. But, now I'm back to romance-drama mode. I recently watched The Painted Veil, and cried my eyes out (Edward Norton and Naomi Watts, why do you hurt me so?).

2. I am happy to be back to my cannon pairing: Kakashi X Anko! Yay, they're back in the picture! I have lots planned in the next chapter, as well as more information on Anko's foster father, Orochimaru (in this story only). Hopefully, there will be more action in the future chapters (hint, hint).

and 3. For those who are picky about story flow and story structuring, I'm sorry that the scene transitions were really rough for this chapter. Each section of the chapter was written at a different time and place and then pasted together to create this chapter. I could have edited it a bit better, but I really didn't want you guys to have to wait longer for another chapter that would have the same information as this one.

If you have any questions about this story as well as my other stories: Don't be afraid to ask. I will answer your questions the best that I can. As always, all reviews and opinions are welcomed no matter what story you read. I am still grateful when receiving reviews on stories that I've complete in the past. It affirms me that the work I put into writing is fruitful and is engaging to readers. So, for those of you who review—regardless of whether it is a positive or negative one—I am so very thankful for the time you take to inpact my life.

But, if you are going to give me a negative review, please sign in so that I can work with you, and explain to you the basis of my writing. I've gotten plenty of critisms in my life already, some made me regret my decisions, but all taught me to be a better person.

Stay tuned and see you in the next chapter.


	11. Abduction

**Chapter 11: Abduction**

Sasuke left the _Snakes_' current hideout and left through the main entrance. Kidnapping and killing Anko Mitarashi would be too easy. But, he knew that he couldn't let his guard down. That was what amateurs did. He took his .45 and a silencer along with his weapon of choice, a thin, razor-type blade. Kabuto was an idiot. The dark-haired assassin knew that he only had to do Kabuto's bidding for a little while longer, and when the imbecile finally let his guard down, he is the one who's going to take over the entire operation.

Sasuke drove the fifty miles to the _Akatsuki_'s side of town, switched to a rental car, and then parked a mile away from the front gates of the current president's home. The security would have overwhelmed a normal man, but to a polished assassin, this was child's play. Sasuke walked around the building's perimeter and decided that the best way to enter was through the servant entrance. He charmed his way in by complementing a young maid on her newly cut hair. The girl flirted with him and took some time to get rid of.

"You're new aren't you?" she asked him with a soft, throaty voice.

"Yes," Sasuke had answered with a smile. "It's my first day. I got so excited to get here that I even forgot my key pass."

"Here I'll let you in," the girl smiled sweetly and fluttered her long lashes. "I hope that I'll see you again soon..."

"_Hiroshi_, my name is Hiroshi," Sasuke took the young maid's hand in his and shook it as she sighed in pleasure. "It was nice meeting you, and thanks so much for letting me in. I really needed this job."

"It's no inconvenience to me, Hiroshi." The girl seemed to sense some of Sasuke's impatience, "I'll let you go on your way now I don't want you getting in trouble with the boss. Since you don't have your ID card, I suggest you try to avoid the first, third, and fifth floor for the next hour, the guards are there for the rest of this hour. Then they change to the even-numbered floors. They'll kick you out if you don't have a key card; they're anal about it, even if they know who you are already."

It seemed the girl was talking from experience. And she had just saved Sasuke some grievances.

"Thank you," he said with a nod and turned to leave.

"Do you want to have breakfast with me, later after our shift?" she asked him.

"Sure," Sasuke said without turning back. He was going to be long gone when that time came.

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Anko couldn't sleep for the life of her. A feeling of dread wouldn't leave her and the fact that Kakashi was snoring away right outside her bedroom door, wouldn't allow her mind to stop thinking of him. She needed some fresh air, not the circulated, air-conditioned thing that passed for air around here. Uncaring of whether Kakashi woke up or not, she burst through her door, past her snoring guard dog, and into the hallway beyond. She would deal with security when the time came, but for some reason, she needed to be outside. She needed to prove to herself that she was not a prisoner, and that she was free.

Anko walked down the long hallway and was about to round a corner to the service exit when she heard soft footsteps. These footsteps were not the regular, heavy-footed gait of a guard, but of someone who did not want to be heard. Fear pressed upon Anko's chest and she slowly back away from the corner. She pulled out a compact mirror that her foster-father had given her; her initials were engraved into the titanium surface of the cover. Anko stood on her tip-toes and held it up as high as she could reach, so she could see around the corner. Years of being a spy made her cautious and suspicious of almost everything, and it taught her to trust her instincts. It didn't matter that for all she knew, the person around the corner might just be an employee trying to sneak in after being late for a shift. This could be why she felt so anxious before.

What, or rather who, she saw through the tiny reflective glass almost made her drop her compact. She caught the small mirror with her non-dominant hand at knee level just before it dropped to the floor. Sasuke Uchiha had infiltrated Naruto's fortress. Knowing that she wasn't safe, Anko silently made her way back to her room. Unlike her pursuer, her footfalls didn't make a single sound. Being a spy granted her such a skill.

Anko burst through her door and debated whether to wake Kakashi or not. She knew that Sasuke wouldn't kill him if he wasn't commisioned to kill the Resistance spy, and Kakashi would only die trying to protect her if she woke him. So, she walked past his sleeping form on the couch and proceeded to her room. She had to get out through the window. She entered her room in a flurry, and quickly spun around towards the bedroom door when she heard the unmistakable click of the suite door being picked open. Her blood ran cold for but a moment as she subconsciously backed into the narrow French windows in the room.

She gasped in surprise when she felt the muzzle of a gun pressed against the back of her neck. The cold, hard steel dug deeper into her neck preventing her from seeing the gun's owner. Then, there was a hand on her mouth which propelled her through the window. She only had one second to toss her monogrammed compact mirror back through the window as she was hauled out of it.

Once out of the window, the hand was uncapped from her mouth, but the gun now pushed against her back, pointed at her heart. Anko knew that she was dealing with a trained gunman and if she said a single word, she'd find a big, big hole in her chest. Her captor dragged her into the surrounding brush, the one she had so longingly stared at the morning before; hoping that she could go beyond its walls. Well, she got her wish after all. Thorns scratched and branches slapped her as they walked through thicket. The ground was uneven and she almost tripped twice, but the gun was unmoving against her back as if it were glued in place. The silence was unnerving, but not as much as knowing where the man was going to take her: to her death.

Past the brush, there was a fence. She knew that the fence was live with electricity and alarms would sound once they reached it, but Anko found no choice but to head straight for the shock-fence.

"Please," she gasped pitifully as they approached without any hint of stopping. Yet, moment later they halted less than a foot away from the fence; she could hear the crackling of electricity run across the mesh gate. Then, there was a faint beeping noise before a pregnant pause.

Her abductor reached around her and pushed a gloved hand against the fence. He—judging by the size of his hand she assumed so—grunted as a crackle and flash of light came from the fence. But, the man was unharmed. He then pushed against the gate until it moved like curtains on a window. The thick brush hid them from being seen by the cameras. She was certain that no one in the President's house knew that there was even a fence hiding here.

The man then pushed her down low so that her head would not touch any part of the gate. She did as she was forced to do, hoping to survive just a little longer. Through the gate, they passed more coppices until they reached a dimly lit side street. Across the narrow street was a sleek, black limousine. The license plate indicated that the car was from the Akatsuki's turf.

Anko numbly straggled ahead of the pistol on her back, and rounded the back of the limousine. The door laid open in a frightening invitation. Would she be killed now or taken elsewhere to be killed later?

Using her peripheral vision, she could see the tall, unmasked man who had kidnapped her. He allowed her to see his face, indicating that she didn't have much time left. He obviously didn't care if she could identify him or not. And, he didn't make a move to blindfold her either, thus sealing her fate.

"Please come in," a voice called from the back of the limo.

Anko bowed her head once more and entered the car. Immediately, the door shut behind her, and she was forced to sit and face her enemy. The car started and cruised swiftly through the streets.

"I hope that we didn't interrupt anything when Zetzu took you to see me." A rail-thin woman with hair a lighter shade of purple looked up at the ex-_Snakes_ spy through heavy-lidded eyes. "We saw Kakashi Hatake enter your apartment." She added to indicate exactly what she meant.

"You didn't interrupt anything," Anko replied stiffly, almost cankerous. "Who are you and what do you want from me?"

"You may call me Konan, and I don't want anything from you," The woman kept her expression neutral. A white flower broach on the lapel of her tailored suit was the only thing brightening her appearance. "It's my boss that wants you."

"Where are you taking me?"

Anko didn't receive a reply until a few minutes passed. Konan only stared out of the window until Anko started to do the same.

"Well, you're a smart woman, I'm sure you've already figured out who we are and I'm sure that not being blindfolded has allowed you to see which direction we're headed." The woman then held up a glass and a bottle from a side cooler. "Would you like some?"

"No," Anko answered. "I just want out of this rollercoaster ride."

"I'm sorry, I can't help you there." Konan went back to watching the shadowed cityscape pass her window. "Maybe my boss can grant your demand."

Konan knocked on the tinted partition between the back of the limo and the front when the car entered a side street. The car then stopped abruptly as if the knock was a command. Anko watched as the woman before her pull out a white piece of paper from her purse. Konan then folded the square piece in half once, then twice, as Anko looked on. She folded the paper a few more times until a paper flower emerged from the many folds. Anko then noticed that the flower looked like the one by Konan's heart.

"Here, this is for you," she said as she deposited the paper flower into Anko's hands.

Anko laughed at the whimsical sentiment. "What am I supposed to do with this?"

"It's called a favour." Konan explained. "You may ask me to do anything for you, except to spare your life."

"Why are you doing this for me?" Anko questioned as she absentmindedly stroked the flower's crinkly petals.

"I like to see that the people I kill are peaceful when they die." The woman spoke in an emotionless voice as if her attention was divided.

"So, you're that one that's going to kill me?" Anko smiled at her imprisoner. "If you are, you're the kindest assassin I've come across."

"Thank you, I appreciate you words," Konan nodded before taking a sip from her glass.

The Akatsuki assassin knocked once more on the tinted partition and the car started to move again. Anko lays back against her seat, thinking about how she could use her favour from Konan. The two purple-haired women sat across from each other in silence until the limousine reached its destination and Anko was ripped from her seat to be brought to the leader of Akatsuki: a man known simple and formidably as Pein. Zetsu, her guard, hauled her up against his side, his gun digging snuggly into the back of her head.

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Sasuke Uchiha was not a happy camper for he didn't find Anko Mitarashi in her room. He had checked the room that she was supposed to be in. And aside from rumpled sheets and a man on the couch, there was no sign that the woman was there. If he returned to Kabuto empty handed, there would certainly be some repercussions in his plan.

Uchiha was about to exit the room when he noticed that the window didn't look right. The window was ajar and when he pointed a light at the bushes and trees a few feet away from the opening, a discrete path leading away from the compound was revealed. Could it be that Anko Mitarashi chose this night to escape? Well, if she did, it would be a lot easier for him to kill her without a witness. The assassin hopped out of the open window to investigate the path.

Using his skills in hiding and hunting, Sasuke covered up the blatant tracks so that Naruto's band of nitwits would have a difficult time finding his dead victim in the woods. As he neared the edge of the Uzumaki property, he noticed a gate hidden in the brush that was left wide open. This must be how Anko escaped. The young assassin smirked menacingly and continued to walk through past the gate cautious of the electric fence. Once through the gate, he caught sight of a limousine driving past in the narrow street. The plate numbers showed that a company tied to the Akatsuki owned the car. So, Anko was abducted by his brother's group. The younger Uchiha wondered what could be so important about Anko Mitarashi?

The assassin quickly ran to his awaiting car in the adjoining street to follow suit once he was certain no one would see him move through the shadows. This time, he wasn't going to allow his victim to get away even if it meant that a family reunion was coming up sooner rather than later.

"Itachi, I will make you pay," Sasuke muttered to himself as he reached his car. "Along with Orochimaru's whore."

The young assassin made an illegal U-turn to follow the woman he was going to kill. At one point, he almost lost the Akatsuki car, but caught a lucky break when the limousine stopped suddenly. Sasuke quickly took this opportunity to pull out a sniper rifle from the compartment under the passenger seat and started to re-attach all the connecting parts together. This was Orochimaru's old car, and the assassin knew that the old boss always drove in a fully-loaded car. Sasuke also had the same compartment in his recently destroyed car but he had kept an assortment of hunting knives there instead. Once his rifle was assembled, Sasuke got to the back seat by wiggling between the driver and passenger seats and propped the butt end of the assault weapon on his shoulder and using the passenger-side headrest as a prop for the barrel. It wasn't an ideal setup in a compact car, but if he could kill Anko tonight, or scare her out of her wits, it would bring him one step closer to his goal.

The _Snakes_ member watched through the telescopic lens and was able to see two shadows in the back of the seat of the limo which was conveniently parked under a street lamp. He almost couldn't suppress his grin at this opportunity. He aimed his weapon until one of the shadowed figures, the one he believed to be Anko, was in the center of the crosshairs. He took a slow breath in, steadying his aim, his finger controlled on the trigger. Just as he was about to add the little bit of pressure it took to release his shot, the limousine lurched forward and drove away.

Sasuke swore aloud and drove after the car at a safe distance away. The jinx of Anko Mitarashi struck again. There were many rumours back in the day of Orochimaru's leadership. One cautionary couplet was: "whoever tried to find Orochimaru's spy would always die". Sasuke even remembered that before he had known that Anko was the _Snakes_ leader's spy, and he had forcefully asked the deceased gang leader who his spy was. Orochimaru had chosen to be tortured instead of giving up Anko's name. Afterwards, Sasuke was forced to kill the him without any answers. It was only a month later that he learned that the woman who had clumsily tried to seduce him during a mission in France was the same woman who had kept Orochimaru alive all of these years and kept those who wanted him assassinated six-feet underground.

What was so special about this woman? There had to be a reason why she was kept alive after all she'd been through. What made this detestable woman so invincible? The assassin thought to himself as he stalled his car long enough for the limo to turn the corner before following suit. He had shut off his head lights a few streets away and was now focused on killing his mark.

The limousine driver knew that his car was being followed, but continued driving to the Akatsuki fortress; and it certainly was a fortress filled with nasty traps for interlopers. Zetsu even slowed his driving so that the black car couldn't be lost. He will personally deal with the stalker at a later time. Anticipation and bloodlust made the Akatsuki member antsy with joy. It had been a long time since anyone challenged the Akatsuki.

Sasuke kept his car half a block away when the limo turned through a tall set of gates. This must be their destination. Sasuke backed up into the shadowed surroundings and exited his car. There weren't many trees to hide in or climb to look over the iron fence, nor were there nearby buildings to use as vantage points. The Akatsuki fortress looked impenetrable and foreboding as the only building past one story in a five-mile radius. Yet, Sasuke knew that there was always a way in. He simply had to wait and watch for a weakness in security.

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Kakashi woke up from another uncomfortable night on the couch, and he didn't find Anko in her bed. He gave the suite a quick search, but found no trace of her. He thought that she might have left to find breakfast in the dining room, but instead found everyone else except the woman he was looking for. The uncomfortable feeling in his gut spiked when another half an hour passed and Anko hadn't made an appearance.

The resistance spy finally gathered enough nonchalance to ask Kurenai if she'd seen Anko, to which the gate-keeper answered in the negative. Kakashi started to worry, Anko wasn't one to disappear.

"_They'll kill you and you disappear as if you were erased from history."_

He heard her earlier statement over and over in his head. There was something definitely wrong. Kakashi hurried once more to Anko's room.

There wasn't a note on the side table or anything that would hint that she had left on her own accord. But, as a fellow spy, Kakashi knew that Anko would have left some sort of clue if she was abducted. It bothered him to no end that he couldn't find her. She was only missing for an hour, but something in him told him that there was something amiss with the entire scenario.

He finally decided to get the others to start looking for the missing woman, they had to find her. She was his only hope; his only hope in stopping the _Snakes_, his only hope in ending the gang wars, and his only hope in having a shot at a happy ending.

"Did you find her?" Asuma came up to him. "There's no trace of her anywhere."

"Apart from her bed, it's like she wasn't even here." Kurenai announced as she emerged from Anko's suite.

Kakashi pushed past Kurenai and entered Anko's room. He quickly scanned the room with a critical eye. He took in every detail of the room: the flipped bed covers, the shoes on the floor, and the crinkled area rug by the window. Kakashi walked to the window.

"They got her out this way," he stated before asking Asuma and Kurenai. "What's behind the fence outside this window?"

"A back alley," Kurenai said absent-mindedly. "Damn it, Asuma, we should have thought of this before."

"We're really sorry, Kakashi." Asuma said solemnly. "If the _Snakes_ got to her, then she'd probably be dead by now."

Kakashi nodded. If only he didn't stop her from telling him everything. If only he got more information out of Anko, then at least he would know where to look for her. Now she was gone. He had to steel himself; he'd always known that a guy like him couldn't win.

"What's this?" Kurenai picked up a compact, gold mirror from under the bed. "It has Anko's initials on it; maybe she threw it when they kidnapped her."

Kakashi grabbed it out of Kurenai's hands and started examining it like a man possessed. He carefully opened the mirror and pulled out a Swiss Army Knife from his pocket. He used the sharp, thin end of the blade to trace the perimeter of the mirror. He felt a small hitch on the mirror and started to pry the mirror out. When the piece of glass fell out, a piece of paper fell out with it. Kakashi picked up both items off the floor. What looked to be a formula covered both sides of the paper.

The PI tried to put the paper back behind the mirror, but with no success. It appeared that even Anko didn't know that she had this information in her possession. The formula must be of the enhancing drug that Anko had said that Orochimaru had founded: the proverbial fountain of eternal youth.

"What is it?" Asuma asked, interrupting Kakashi's thoughts. "It looks like a formula of some sort."

"This could be a formula of a drug that would destroy lives as well as save it. It's a drug allows a dying man to have the strength of a healthy twenty year old man for the duration of the drug's effects. Orochimaru was a geneticist who wanted to create this drug so people can live longer in good health. But before he was able to produce it, major pharmaceutical companies who made money from the illnesses of people, went after him. He was forced to go into hiding, his mistake was that he hired a crooked doctor—Kabuto—to help him out and instead fell into the drug ring."

Kakashi walked around the bedroom one more time to make sure he didn't miss any other details.

"We'll go tell the others, Asuma and I will check the video footages of the perimeter to see if anything sticks out. I'll get Sakura to analyze the formula, maybe we can use it as leverage against the gangs." Kurenai voiced before dragging her husband out the door. "Kakashi, don't lose hope yet. If this is what the enemy is looking for, we still have a chance to save her."

The fair-haired man smiled grimly and nodded in understanding. There was no point in shedding a tear for a woman like Anko, only a fool would. Kakashi opened the window and exited through the gates to the narrow alley, the street was completely dark; certainly no camera footage would be taped in this area. But, if the intruder came from the hallway, there should be a shot of him getting in. Kakashi walked out of the room, intending to do what he did best: spy. He was going to find out whom or what caused Anko to leave.

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A/N: Hello everyone! I am happy to present you with the next chapter of Target. This chapter focuses mainly on Anko and her ill-gotten relationship with the Akatsuki and White Snakes gangs. This is probably one of the shorter chapters of the story mainly because of the fact that it preludes to the next chapter which will reveal the reason Anko is so special in this story. In this chapter, Sasuke asks the questions "what makes Anko Mitarashi so special?" and "How does she somehow avoid being killed?". This is where the next chapter: Story of a Deadman (cool title, huh?) will answer these questions, at least in part.

For those who have read and reviewed, I am very thankful that you have taken the time to share your thoughts. And, for those who have stuck with this story since the beginning, I thank you for your patience and forgiving nature.

I really do wish that I could write all day and finish this story for you, but my day job is mentally demanding so when I get home, I usually don't have the brain-power to write. Or, if it's not that, my schedule gets in the way. Although, I must say that I am my father's daughter, and thus, am stupidly stubborn. This is why I know that I can, and will, finish this story. If not for my readers, then for my satisfaction.

Please read and review, and stay tuned for the answers in the next chapter: Story of a Deadman.


	12. Story of a Dead Man

Naruto was notified of Anko's disappearance a short time after breakfast. This prompted a security check of the HQ's perimeter and surrounding areas. An emergency meeting was quickly set up within the hour. Sakura and Ino headed the forensics team and Hinata, along with Asuma and Kurenai were charged with the task of finding out how the kidnapper breached their defenses and what were the exact circumstance of Anko's disappearance. Did she leave on her own, was she extracted by an accomplice, or was she really abducted? The mission team leaders, Neji Hyuga and Shikamaru Nara were asked to come up with a plan on how to attack this problem.

Not an hour after the command was issued; the resistance team was assembled in one of the chalet's in-home office around an elongated table for a preliminary update. Two oval dishes mounted with an assortment of sandwiches were placed on the table along with glasses and pitchers of water. Ino chewed mindlessly on a cucumber sandwich as she discussed her notes with Sakura on their forensic findings in Anko's room. Shikamaru and Neji were in deep conversation pointing at different areas of a schematic map on the table between them. And, Hinata coloured slightly when Naruto sat beside her at the head of the table. Kakashi, Asuma and Kurenai were late coming in but took the last remaining seats.

"So, who wants to go first?" Naruto asked once last night's events were relayed to him.

"Is it even worth it to get her back?" Neji interjected, wanting to get the question on everyone's mind out of the way. "I mean, if the two most powerful gangs want to fight over her, that's their problem, not ours. If we're lucky, the _Snakes_ and the _Akatsuki_ might kill each other over her."

"But, Anko must have something that makes her so valuable to these people. It's not something we can turn a blind eye on. What if the rival gangs are fighting over some sort of weapon? We have to be in on this too." Kurenai voiced. "From what I've learned through her therapy sessions, Anko Mitarashi is worth something to these people so much so that someone erased key information in her mind, and as the only known defence against these gangs, she should be worth just as much to us too."

"Yeah, too bad that she doesn't remember much about working for the _White Snakes_ that can help us out." Neji retorted. "What if she doesn't remember what the information that she's repressed? She won't be any use to us."

Naruto stood up from his seat in his office and turned to look at the panoramic mountainous from the office window.

"What do you think, Kakashi-sensei?" he asked calmly. "Should we try to get her back?"

There was a pause in the room as every member turned to face the silent spy seated the furthest from Naruto.

"She's already pointed us in the direction of someone called the 'Target'. I think that finding out who sent her to find me in the first place is the key to learning more about who we're up against." Kakashi started. "On the other hand, I don't want to risk what little man power we have to try to save a dead woman."

"But…" Naruto left the statement hanging as he returned to his seat.

"But," Kakashi continued. "I want her back."

"Shikamaru, you must side with me, she isn't worth it. She's no threat to us and there's a strong possibility that she's already dead." Neji continued. "I don't want to put anyone here in any unnecessary danger. And trying to break into the _Akatsuki_ or _Snakes_' fortresses is definitely high on the danger scale. We're trying to prevent a war, not start one."

Naruto stood from his seat and raised a hand to halt Neji's argument. The other man stopped his tirade out of respect for the president.

"Where are we with the surveillance video?" he asked. "Did we find anything?"

Hinata stood up from her seat at Naruto's side.

"There is one known character on the video." She said as she handed out surveillance stills of a suspect. "This is Sasuke Uchiha. He is a hired assassin known to work for the _White Snakes_. This shot was taken at section A grid 26 at around 1:30 hours today. He doesn't seem to be carrying any weapons, but he is known for using switchblades to kill most of his victims which as we all know is easier to conceal."

"And what was his point of entry?" Shikamaru asked.

"A servant for section D grid 13 let him in from through the side entrance at section A grid 4, she, the servant, has recently been terminated from her post after receiving a re-training warning before." Hinata answered. "But, knowing who our suspect is, we can deduce that he didn't find Anko."

"How do you know?" Naruto interjected.

"Well, kidnapping isn't in Uchiha's MO. He usually leaves the body at the scene. I believe that Anko had escaped or was already taken by the time he entered the room. But, by what means, I don't know. We can determine for sure that the _Snakes_ don't have her. If Uchiha doesn't have her, then the _Akatsuki_ may have her or she is on her own. Although, we don't really know how many groups are after Anko."

"Thank you, Hinata," Naruto nodded in her direction as the dark-haired woman sat back down in her seat with a sigh of relief.

"What are our options, then?" Ino, who had tried to stay silent the entire time, finally burst out. "I mean, we can't just sit here and do nothing, she's a human being too. There's got to be some sort of clue where we can find her."

"Shut up, Ino," Shikamaru hushed his wife. They couldn't afford to be sentimental and identifying with a person of interest. "We need to get through the reports first before we make any decisions."

"If no one else minds, I would like to inform you about my findings." Sakura stood up from her seat and handed out a photocopy of the slip of paper found in Anko's mirror. "What you're looking at is a formula for a type of steroid used in dentistry. This steroid prevents the swelling of the gums if taken before surgical procedures. It's not a miracle drug at all. But, if you look at the edge of the paper where the formula ends, it looks like the paper was torn, not cut."

"So, what does that mean?" Neji scoffed. "If the formula is useless, we don't have to risk our heads for nothing."

"The paper is torn and could signify that there is more to this formula. There might be a second half to it." Sakura replied pointing out the frayed edge on the copied paper. "If there is a second half to this page, I can only assume that one or both of the rival gangs know about it. That could be the reason why they're fighting over Anko Mitarashi. But, I think the key to this is Orochimaru himself. He was a celebrated geneticist and maybe this formula has something to do what he was working on."

"Anko was Orochimaru's adoptive father." Kakashi said harshly, determined to reign in his anger. "So, technically, he didn't have any ties to her. He raised her to bait businessmen to have the upper hand in his dealings. He made her—"

"There must be more to this story." Ino chimed in once again. "Psychologically speaking, it doesn't make sense for a powerful and unsympathetic man like Orochimaru to adopt a teenaged girl just so he can groom her into becoming a spy: that would take years of effort. It would have been easier for a man in his position to just hire a mercenary spy to do the job then kill the hired hitman afterwards."

"Ino's right," Kurenai agreed. "Besides, what would a formula be doing in Anko's possession without her knowing? I think that we need to know more about the man behind the operation if we want to make sense of all this information."

There was a pregnant pause as every single person in the room tried to come up with a plan of action.

"We need to find out who were Orochimaru's connections before he became the leader of the _White Snakes_. This would be about the same time as the uprising in Amegakure and Pein fought his way into power." Asuma noted. "I remember that Konohagakure was in alliance with Sunagakure and Kumogakure against the new factions, but the treaty fell apart when—"

"W-when the leader of Kumogakure tried to kidnap me and Neji's father was killed." Hinata interrupted. Neji quickly turned away at the mention of his father, hiding the pained expression on his face. Hinata clammed up after seeing her cousin's hurt. Both knew the cost his father, Hizashi, had to pay for her safety, as well as for her own father's life.

"Yes, that's right, now I remember that Orochimaru was still with Konoha then, and worked with the matriarch of the Inuzuka family, Tsume, who is a geneticist specializing in splicing canine DNA with human DNA. Inuzuka Corp. is currently a company that is made up of super soldiers with acute dog-like senses and ferocity." Kurenai stood from her chair. "Maybe Tsume has the answer to what Orochimaru was working on before he went underground and found himself in Otogakure."

"How do you suggest we get into Inuzuka Corp.?" Shikamaru enquired. "Everyone knows that the Inuzukas are powerful people in Konoha. We can't just walk up to the door and ask to see the leader without the rest of the public becoming suspicious. And nowadays, with all hell about to break loose, we can't make one move without being scrutinized. We were barely able to get Temari's incident out of the papers."

Naruto looked around the room at the delicate situation, hoping for a sign that would indicate that everything was going to be alright. If they went up to the Inuzukas and accused them of working with a syndicate leader like Orochimaru, there would be a disunity that could break up Konoha's allied defenses thus opening up the country for attack. The 7th president sighed when he received no reassuring sign.

"We need to be sure about this. If it gets out that I accused a respected family of keeping information from our defenses, we could lose everything." Naruto explained. "We need a way in to talk to Tsume Inuzuka so that no one would suspect that anything is going on. How do we get in?"

"Hinata," Neji announced staring grimly at his younger cousin. He wished that he could have protected her from this, but knew that he couldn't have done a thing.

Hinata knew what her cousin wanted her to do, nevertheless a part of her still wanted to keep the information away from her peers, especially from Naruto. But, knowing that she was the key to finding out more about the Resistance' enemy, she had no choice but to divulge her connection to the Inuzuka family.

"We can talk to Tsume Inuzuka." Hinata stated slowly, as she watched the confused looks pass over her colleagues' faces. "I am…I am supposed to…I mean that…I…" she couldn't finish her sentence and looked to Neji for assistance.

Her cousin understood her silent plea for help and proceeded to decode the meaningful looks he and Hinata had been exchanging.

"During the war in Kirigakure, the Inuzukas became prisoners of war by the original Kirigakure leader, Hanzou. You see, the Inuzukas had planned on expanding their business into Kirigakure before the war started, but, it seemed that their plans were turned against them and they were captured. After the war when the family returned to Konoha, there were rumours that the Inuzukas were spies for the enemy and that was how they had survived the war unscathed. To stop these rumours, and to keep the family of genetically enhanced super soldiers as Konoha's allies, there had to be a binding treaty between the Inuzukas and Konoha." Neji paced the length of the room as he told his story.

"So, what happened?" Naruto urged the Hyuga male to continue.

"As one of the most prominent families in Konoha, your father, Naruto, approached the Hyuga family." Neji enunciated his words deliberately. "He asked that the Hyugas and Inuzukas become joined as family."

"What?" Naruto's brows furrowed and his blue eyes filled with confusion. "How is that possible?"

"The eldest son of the Inuzuka family and the eldest daughter of the Hyuga family were married in an arranged marriage to pacify any rumours and to unify Konoha." Neji announced as he looked to his cousin. "Kiba Inuzuka and Hinata Hyuga were married at the age of 17 in a clandestine, but binding marriage. But, less than four years after the marriage, the Inuzukas proved their loyalty to Konoha by exposing the corruption in the police department ran by the Uchihas, so the wedding announcement didn't have to be made public after all. Only a few of Konoha's older families know that the two were married at all and since neither family has publicly confirmed that the marriage existed, it has remained as common gossip between old families. From then on, the marriage was kept secret to keep both of Konoha's strongest families on even status and to prevent another discord like the one with the Uchiha debacle."

Hinata's stomach dropped as she witnessed everyone's shocked expressions. The one that hurt her the most was Naruto's. She'd always known that she and Naruto could never be together because of her marriage to Kiba, but she still had to go on and fall in love with him anyway.

Silence filled the room at the revelation. Hinata decided to take this moment to speak.

"I will meet with my mother-in-law tomorrow and get the answers that we need to find Anko and learn more about Orochimaru." Hinata commented while she started to pick up her things from the table. It only served to make her more nervous, rather than empower her. It meant that she and Kiba would have to finally go public with their marital status. It was a day that they both dreaded.

"Wait, can't we just call Tsume?" Sakura asked. "We don't have to subject Hinata to this news-storm."

"Tsume Inuzuka is a fearsome woman to behold." Hinata explained. "She takes pride in her status, and is easily offended. A phone call for such a personal question would certainly offend her, especially from her daughter-in-law. I think it's about time that I faced this."

Hinata tried her best not to look into Naruto's eyes. He'd always known that she didn't stand a chance with the president, especially when he was so irrevocably in love with the charming doctor, Sakura Haruno. Yet, she knew that one look of pity or sorrow from him on her behalf would kill her.

"If you'll excuse me, I'll take my leave and contact my mother-in-law." Hinata stood and bowed before exiting the meeting room, determined not to meet anyone's gaze. She could feel the multiple pairs of eyes on her back even after she had shut the conference room door behind her.

XXXX

A blindfolded Anko sat on a chair, her back pressed against her bound hands. Her feet were bound together in a tight knot to prevent her escape. A gun was pointed to her head. The gun-wielder's hand was steadily holding the .45 semi-automatic to the back of her head. She could feel the muzzle of the gun pressing against her skin. Anko knew that if she moved so much as an inch, there'd be brain matter, _her_ brain matter, splattered all over the floor.

"Greetings, Miss Mitarashi, I am sure that you know who we are and what we want from you. If you would only cooperate with us, we can—"

"Kill me a lot quicker!" Anko finished the sentence for him. If she was going to die anyway, she wanted to make her captors work for it. "I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but you're wasting your time trying to get anything out of me."

"We're not like the _Snakes_ that you work for," the male voice explained to her, his tone neutral like plain yogurt. "You wouldn't disappear so easily and quietly. You will die in the most painful and public way, Miss Mitarashi."

"I don't care," Anko stated bravely. "I don't have anything that you want. Everything that I know, Kabuto already knows. Meaning that, somehow, you already know everything too. If you're looking for more information, I don't have it."

"Then why is he trying to kill you? What could he be after?"

"I don't know—I don't know anything." She shook her head only causing her captor to dig the gun deeper into her skull. "Get this stupid blindfold off of me and we can calmly discuss this like civilized people. Mr. Trigger-happy here has the barrel halfway through my head already, and it's not going to get me to talk, that's for sure." She then directed the conversation to the guy holding the gun to her head. "Ease off, will you? It's really annoying."

"Konan," plain-yogurt-voice called.

"I am here," a familiar voice answered; the woman from the limo.

"Please get Miss Mitarashi ready for the _civilized discussion_ she wanted."

"Yes, Master Pein," Konan replied to her superior's request.

Instantly, the pressure of the gun at Anko's head disappeared. She released a sigh of relief but was forcefully hauled up, probably by the same trigger-happy guard, and was carried to another destination like a sack of potatoes. Anko was glad. She didn't know that she had been speaking so plainly to Pein, leader of the _Akatsuki_, and lived…for now at least.

Anko tried to focus on the turns in the corridors that they were making, she might have to use it if she had a chance to escape. But, as she had expected, her trigger-happy guard and the female assassin from the limo had taken the longer, round-about route to their destination to confuse her.

Once she was placed on a soft surface like a bed or couch, the female named Konan ordered the guard to leave.

Once alone, the woman pulled off Anko's blindfold.

"What do you want from me?" the captured woman asked.

The assassin only kept silent.

"Why do you work for such a man?"

Finally, Anko's captor replied.

"He's all I got." Konan stated, a sliver of emotion entering her eyes. "He's all I have left in the world."

And Anko understood. She understood what the other woman meant. In the underworld of gangs and money, a woman like Konan would only have her employer. In turn, an employer would only have his money and money changed hands faster than it took to reload a pistol. And, as much as a woman would want to be free of her employer, she knows it would be better to have someone powerful to protect you than not. For a slave without a master is like money. It changes hands faster than it takes to reload a pistol where most of the time the pistol is pointed at you.

"Mitarashi, I don't want to kill you before you can ask for your favour, but if you don't answer me honestly, I will have to resort to that possibility." Konan tone warned that she was no longer sympathetic to Anko's plight.

Anko simply nodded her understanding. She wasn't going to get out of here alive. The former spy smiled lightly, mirroring the one on Konan's face.

XXXX

Hinata arrived by limousine to the main office of Inuzuka Corp. The tall building dwarfed the many others surrounding it although the high walls and fences surrounding it prohibited any outsiders from seeing this view. She was escorted by guards much taller than her. And almost every guard was escorted by a dog. Once reaching the reception desk which was just past the entrance doors, Hinata was greeted by a beautiful woman with a dazzling smile and shiny hair. The only thing differentiating her from any other woman outside of the Inuzuka family were her two protruding canine-like incisors.

"Inuzuka-dono," the woman spoke excitedly when Hinata only stared. "I am happy to finally meet you. "I've heard such great things about you from the boss."

"Ah, yes, I um—" Hinata stuttered, not used to being addressed as 'Mrs. Inuzuka'. "I'm here to see my mother-in-law."

"Oh, yes, Inuzuka-sama has been waiting for you, I've contacted her to notify of your arrival as soon as you drove up." The kind receptionist explained. "I was told to personally escort you to her office."

The woman stood from her chair, and was at least a full head taller than the petite woman. Hinata followed the receptionist to the elevators and waited for her to swipe an ID card through a card-reader where an elevator button would usually be located. Once the doors opened, she was met with the last person she wanted to see.

Her husband smirked playfully as he explained that he would be escorting her to see his mother. The friendly receptionist politely bowed to excuse herself and dutifully returned to her post.

"Wife," Kiba's voice grated against her raw nerves. "It's really great to see you."

"Dear husband, it is also a pleasure to see you," Hinata bowed to him and answered meekly. She stepped into the elevator not knowing what else to do.

Kiba leaned forward momentarily trapping her in a corner, his breath brushing against her cheek as he leant down to press the buttons behind her. The doors closed, she was trapped. Hinata was frightened of the man she called her husband. She had not seen him since they were both twenty-one years old and she had decided to live apart from him a few months after they were forced to consummate their marriage by their families. Their belated wedding night was a night of pleasurable passion without love. It was a moment where Hinata learned the painful lesson that love mattered in a relationship and was therefore, unwilling to share her life with a man she did not love. Kiba had let her go without a fight, thus allowing her to believe that he felt the same about their union. He did not want her, or so she thought.

He saw her discomfort and backed away to an appropriate distance as the elevator travelled up. He merely wanted to remind his senses of her smell, to see if he remembered her fragrance rightly. Not one day passes that he did not think of her. Not even after these miserable five years without her. He'd always known that he could have demanded that she stay at his side, and that she was his to have as his wife, but the insecure man within wanted her to come to him, to choose him as her husband. Now that she had come to him willingly, he was not going to let her go.

"I've really missed you, Hinata." Kiba grinned at her, Hinata's heart raced; she was not used to such an endearing tone when hearing her name. "I'm glad that you've come back to me."

At his words, her world collapsed. Her husband thought that she was finally returning to him. He thought that she wanted them to finally be together.

"Inuzuka-san," Hinata stated timidly.

Kiba laughed at her. "Kiba, call me Kiba, Hinata! Only the city officials call me Inuzuka-san."

"Ki-Kiba," Hinata tried calling him by his name for the first time in five years. "I'm sorry to say this but, I am not here for you."

A sense of disappointment reached her husband's eyes as the doors slid open to reveal a familiar hallway to Tsume Inuzuka's office. It had not changed at all in the last five years. It was still the same red-cedar panelling with elaborate gilt designs.

Kiba felt a punch to his heart. It was stupid of him to believe for a second that Hinata would ever love him as he had loved her. But, he wasn't called a stubborn dog for nothing.

"Then I'll just wait for the day that you choose to return to me, my wife Hinata." He grinned widely, showing her his fang-like incisors. "I'm sure that once our marriage has gone public, we'll be required to spend more time together. I will get you to change your mind. I can't wait to see you smiling at me the same way you do at Naruto Uzumaki's presence."

Hinata gasped and exited the elevator, Kiba followed closely behind her. If Kiba knew about Naruto, then who else knew?

"How did you…" Hinata couldn't form the words to end her sentence.

"How did I know about you and Naruto?" Kiba's expression was mostly neutral with the exception of fury in his eyes. "Just because I don't work for him like you do, you don't think I know what's going on? As part of one of the elite families in Konoha, I am obligated to go to the same social functions as you. And in those gatherings, I keep an eye out on what is mine. I've seen the way that you moon over him. But, I don't see the same from him. That's why I won't give up on you, Hinata. In my arms, you will be loved, you will be cherished, and you will have my adoring attention. I can't help but remember how you used to regard me in the same way that you do Naruto now. I've asked myself a million time what is it that I did to make you leave me? What did I do to make you forget that I still loved you? Damn it to hell if I let Naruto hurt you with his ignorance. He may be president, but he will not make a fool of my wife!"

Hinata's eyes filled with tears, just as the doors opened into Tsume Inuzuka's private office.

"If the two of you don't mind, I'm trying to run a billion dollar business here, and I don't need to hear my son and daughter-in-law's dirty laundry through my office doors." The older, yet, still sassy woman chastised the two occupants of the hall. "Hinata, come in, and Kiba, I don't want to see your mug until I tell you to come. Get out of here."

Kiba looked as if he was going to say something, but the contemplative, furrowed expression on his mother's face made the argument die on his tongue. He simply bowed to his mother, then to his wife, before returning to the elevator. He swiped his card, and disappeared through the elevator doors a beat later.

"Hinata, my daughter, I must apologize for Kiba's insensitivity, or is it his oversensitivity? But, as you can see, he still very much loves you. He wouldn't be my son if he wasn't tenacious." Tsume draped a lanky arm around the Hyuga heiress to lead her to a more fitting place for their conference: her corner office with the million dollar view of the trees and mountains and the distant greens of the only unharnessed vegetation left in Konoha. Hinata didn't even notice the magnifying view because of her worry.

"You didn't tell him what happened, did you?" Hinata asked the Inuzuka matriarch once both were seated across from each other. "I'd rather he never finds out."

"I keep my promises, Hinata, even when it will hurt the ones I love most." Tsume stared steadily into the dark-haired woman's eyes. "I have done as you've asked, daughter, even if my son has suffered because of it."

"I'm sorry, Inuzuka-sama, I don't want to hurt him, but I know what he wants and I can't give it to him." The Hyuga woman shook her head as tears streamed down her pale face.

The elder Inuzuka held out a dark-red kerchief to her daughter-in-law in offering. "I know that you're not here to talk about yours and Kiba's history. So, how can I help you, dear Hinata?"

Again, Hinata was taken aback at hearing such kindness and love at her spoken name. It took her a moment to compose her emotions and to be able to speak to the head of Inuzuka Corp. without a falter in her voice.

"I understand that Orochimaru helped with your research in splicing canine DNA with human DNA." Hinata stated.

"That is correct," Tsume replied truthfully with her brows raised. "What of it?"

"I want to know if you knew what he was working on. What was Orochimaru doing that caused many nations to mark him for death? Why did he adopt a teenager to be his spy? These questions have to be answered if we're ever going to stop this war."

"Orochimaru is dead. He can't do anything anymore." The Inuzuka leader reasoned.

"That is not what his adoptive daughter will tell you." Hinata raised her eyes to meet the murky black of her mother-in-law. "A woman's life is being torn and unravelled because Orochimaru still haunts her. We're trying to save her in hopes that she holds the key to prevent the war."

"Why should I care about Orochimaru's mongrel child?" Tsume snickered at the notion that Naruto was trying to save a low-life's daughter. "Why risk a thousand lives for one life cursed a birth?"

Hinata didn't take offense to Tsume's cruel remark.

"Konoha isn't as powerful as it used to be. If we go to war, you will lose your sons and daughters, and even if one survives, a multitude of lives will still be lost." The fair-skinned diplomat answered regally. "I don't want to lose a husband, but if we don't understand what the motivation behind the _White Snakes' _operation is, he won't stand a chance."

Tsume laughed once more, this time garnering respect for Kiba's wife.

"I've always known that you would be the perfect bride for my son." She announced filled with pride. Hinata's strength faltered. "My wish is that you will find a way back to each other once more."

Hinata couldn't say anything more and therefore stayed silent. Tsume pulled out one of the drawers out from her desk. She pulled out a plain, sealed manila envelope. She took an ornamental letter-opener to unseal the envelope.

"Orochimaru came to see me before his death. I showed him no mercy when he came here, in fact, I didn't offer to hide him or try to save his life." Tsume said earnestly. "But, he did beg for the sake of his daughter to keep this for him. He said that if he should die, this journal would explain his sins."

"His daughter…" Hinata repeated the words slowly. "You mean Orochimaru's adoptive daughter, Anko, am I right?"

"No," Tsume answered grimly. "Anko Mitarashi is his biological daughter. I've met Orochimaru's late wife Shizuka when they were first married. I did not know that they had had a child until I heard her name from ANBU—ROOT.

"Shizuka Mitarashi was born in nobility from a distant land but her family was exiled. She was also cursed with frail health. The only thing her father can do was to sell her off in an arranged marriage. Orochimaru's family at the time were wealthy doctors but Orochimaru himself was born with a deformity on his face. Shizuka was forced to marry Orochimaru."

Tsume upturned the envelope and a solitary leather-bound book dropped onto her desk. The black leather was worn out and contained no more than a couple hundred pages. The scrawls and scripts were methodically written and looked almost computer printed. Hinata reached for the book for closer inspection when Tsume halted her action.

"What do I get for giving you this?" she asked the younger woman.

"What?" Hinata was taken aback. "This is now considered as government property, we're in the middle of a war, Inuzuka-sama, how can you think of your own interest? Konoha's forces needs to work together, not apart."

"I agree with you completely, Hinata, that is why I am giving you full cooperation in your endeavour. My son will aid in your research in this matter."

"B-but, you don't have…" Hinata stuttered. "…to."

"Nonsense, Kiba is more than adequate to help you in your research, and I am sure that sending him with you will be seen as an act of good faith and total compliance with the government's wishes. I don't want the president to think that I purposefully kept information from him about his enemy." The Inuzuka matriarch smiled beguilingly at her daughter-in-law. "And, maybe by spending more time with your husband, you can find the courage to tell him what occurred years ago. Maybe after so many years, he'll finally get the answers he's been waiting so patiently for."

"I can't…" Hinata flushed, her eyes tearing up once again at the memory. "He can't know."

"I don't want to cause you pain, Hinata, but my son deserves to know why you don't love him anymore." Tsume placed the book back into the manila folder and handed the folder to Hinata. "I will make sure that he leaves with you and that this information is kept safe, as are you. He will keep you safe with his life."

Tsume pressed a button on her desk. "Call my son to my office immediately."

She released the button without listening for an answer. The two women waited in silence until a knock at the door, and the sound of the door opening moments later, interrupted the silence.

"Mother, you asked for me," Kiba stood ramrod straight and stared ahead, using all of his control not to sneak a glance at his beautiful wife.

"Kiba, you will be escorting Hinata to the president's estate and help in her research. Your mission will be to protect her and the contents of that envelope." Tsume eyed her son stoically. "This will be your number one priority. Your other missions will be delegated accordingly to other operatives. Am I understood?"

"Yes, Inuzuka-sama," Kiba replied, careful not to break into a full-out smile.

"Good," Tsume walked to a stainless steel door leading to an adjoining room. "I am needed in the laboratory; I'll leave the two of you to see yourselves out."

"Yes ma'am," both Kiba and Hinata replied simultaneously, leaving the couple alone in the matriarch's office.

Once Kiba's eyes met his wife's, a handsome grin broke across his face. Hinata was momentarily taken back in time to when she first laid eyes on her husband on their wedding day. At the time she did not know that he was the man that she was to marry, neither did he, but he still smiled at her in the way that caused her to feel lighter than air. As if all her problems were simply wisps of smoke meant to disappear at the presence of his boyish smile.

"Let's go," he said and covered her hand in his, just like that day nine years ago.

For the first time in a long time, Hinata forgot what had happened five years ago, and simply took her husband's hand and followed him.

XXXX

The moment Orochimaru's journal arrived at the Resistance HQ a team to analyze it was quickly assembled. Sakura was the first to open the pages to scan each sheet to create a digital file as well as take fingerprint samples for later analysis. Kurenai, Shikamaru, Ino, Hinata, along with Kiba were the first to read the pristine block print of an international killer. They had assembled in the office where the meeting the day before had taken place. This time, though, there weren't trays piled with sandwiches, only tall glasses of water, one for each person in the room.

It wasn't noticed before, but the journal was entirely in code. It took a few minutes for Shikamaru and Sakura to come up with the correct cipher, but it was an effective one. The group decided to take turns reading from the de-coded text.

"I"ll go first then," Ino volunteered. "I'm told that I have a great speaking voice."

"Yeah, it comes with all the years of practice you've had, Ino-pig," Sakura teased.

Ino chose to ignore the taunt although she did glare icily at the pink-haired doctor. She started reading the first page:

_I still don't know why she allowed herself to be married to a monster like me, but she did. I gave her a chance to back out of our arranged marriage because I knew she deserved better, but she refused my offer. She said that I was the kindest man she'd ever known and therefore would stay by my side. Her health had always been weak because of her sickle-cell anemia, but now that she carries my child, she seems to be getting weaker. After some tests, it became known that the mutated antigens in her blood had become infected by a virus. The virus is of an unknown strain, and might be the cause of her fatigue and lack of appetite. Shizuka, I hated her sentimentality. I told her to get rid of the child since it could be the cause of the virus. I didn't care about my lineage or anyone else but her, but she refused any notion other than one where she's keeping the baby. She says that the child was the extension of our lives into the future and would be a way for us to be together for another lifetime. Damn her! I knew that I didn't have much time left to save her. I've stolen the formula Tsume Inuzuka created to splice human DNA with canine DNA to create super humans only to find out that the process is only compatible with Inuzuka DNA._

"The entry stops here, but there's a short entry dated a few days after." Ino explains before reading on.

_Today, I was approached by Kabuto Yakushi, a young doctor, to help me find a cure for Shizuka's virus. There have been rumours that he's in the losing end of many malpractice suits that somehow never make it to trial. I don't know who or what this man is dealing with, but I know that I need his help. If the rumours are true, then he's a man who doesn't care what lengths he has to go through to get what he needs; the kind of assistant who would forego moral ethics to help save Shizuka. He's the perfect man for the job I have for him._

Ino paused.

"Do you think that this sounds a like a trap?" Sakura asked the others. "It doesn't seem like the cruel words of an uncompassionate man. In fact, if I didn't have personal experience trying to solve the cases of Orochimaru's murder victims, I would empathize with his struggle to save his dying wife."

"Maybe Orochimaru wasn't a born psychopath like we previously thought," Kurenai surmised. "But, it's definitely clear in his writing that he was starting to become unhinged trying to find a cure. His line of thinking is manifesting itself into an addiction to find a cure. And, one of the symptoms of addiction is lack of empathy. When a subject becomes too engrossed in their addiction, they lose sense for everything else."

"And, the fact that he had met up with Kabuto at an earlier time than from what we knew before, it should be a clue to what's going to happen next." Ino supplied. "Hinata, why don't you read on?"

The reconnaissance officer agreed and started off timidly, but her voice grew louder as she continued.

_Shizuka gave birth to our daughter and lived. The child is fortunate that she has the looks of her mother, but, at the same time, I despise the reminder that she could one day fall to the same illness despite the fact that she doesn't seem to have the same symptoms. Shizuka named the girl, Anko, and thinks that it is a clever name for an heiress to the Mitarashi empire, although, I didn't see the humour in it. I could see that my wife was dying, and in even worse shape than before. The virus is spreading quickly like a cancer, and no amount of transfusions and bone marrow transplants are stopping its progression. Even as Shizuka smiles lovingly at our daughter, I can tell that she doesn't have much time left, and I am certain that she knows this too._

"A couple of months pass until the next entry," Hinata supplies, before continuing.

_I work desperately to find a cure, anything to prolong my wife's life. Every morning that I wake and see her breathing beside me, I tell myself that it could end today. I've travelled to many places and tried many experimental procedures and techniques that I believe might work. Yet, all fail once I've tested it against Shizuka's DNA. It seems that even her cells at the molecular level are too weak to sustain itself. Maybe the key is the girl, after many tests, I know for sure that Anko won't succumb to the same virus like her mother despite the fact that it lives inside her too. I know that I'm close to a breakthrough. I've extracted Anko's DNA, and found that the virus had somehow mutated within her and changed characteristics. Instead of using the cells as a host, like in Shizuka's case, the virus is existing separately from the normal cells without affecting Anko in any way. Maybe little Anko is one of the first natural super human. I will be monitoring her closely. She may be worth more alive than dead after all._

Hinata broke off and looked up when Shikamaru stopped her. All eyes turned to Shikamaru, waiting for his command.

"I say we notify Naruto and the others that Anko is Orochimaru's biological daughter, since it's a strong motive as to why people are after her. Sakura, can look into the virus that killed Shizuka Mitarashi, the journal says that Anko has the virus too. If the virus is still in Anko, we have to find out why she didn't contract an illness like her mother." Shikamaru instructed. "Kiba and Hinata, I need you to find out more information on the rest of the journal's content. We need to know if it really came from Orochimaru, and if there is a known cure for this virus. I'm starting to think that there's more to this fight than a simple turf war between gangs."

The group disassembled solemnly, thinking that maybe it would be worth it in the longrun to listen to this dead man's story.

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A/N:

Hello everyone, I hope you liked this chapter. I know that it's a long chapter, but I didn't want to break it half. So, I worked extra hard to get it done for your reading pleasure. Some of you might have more questions than answers after reading this chapter, but I would like to point out, that the answers in this chapter do hint at what's going to happen next.

There are also many differences that some may not like because it differs too much from the original Naruto series. For example:

1. Anko is Orochimaru's biological daughter.

2. Kabuto is older than he looks.

3. Orochimaru had a wife.

4. Kiba and Hinata were secretly married to unite Konoha.

5. Orochimaru cared for someone other than himself.

To address these differences:

1. In the original series, Anko was Orochimaru's first apprentice, kind of like his first daughter, I thought.

2. Kabuto had to be made older than Anko, because I made Anko Orochimaru's daughter. There will be more information on this point at later chapter.

3. I wanted to show another point of view of why Orochimaru was the way that he is instead of explaining it away by writing him to be some sick psychopath, or as evil incarnate.

4. I snuck in the Kiba and Hinata pairing, because I wanted some intrigue and romance in this chapter. Plus, with Anko kidnapped, it wasn't possible to have a Kakashi X Anko tete-a-tete in the chapter. More of Kiba X Hinata story will also be added-on at a later chapter.

5. See point #3.

Please, please, please read and review as I do like to hear from my readers. I also understand rudimentary Tagalog, French, German, and Spanish, if you would like to review in those languages feel free to do so. Although I will reply to your review in English. Again, if you do have a negative review, please sign-in so that I can learn more from my mistakes, or we can come to an understanding.

Anyway, have a great rest of the day, and stay tuned.


	13. Fallen Angel

**Chapter 13: Fallen Angel**

"Mr. Shimura, we haven't gotten word from operative, Sai Meisaku. It seems that he has failed his mission. According to his tracking device, his body has not changed locations in a few days, but the heat sensor on the tracking device detects that the body is still 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. We think that the device is malfunctioning in this case, but, we are prepared to retaliate if the operative is still alive. Shall we have a team retrieve his body, Sir?"

Danzo was unhappy with this turn of events. He had wanted Temari Suna dead, so that he could also pull the plug on her brother before he recovered fully and put another nuisance to rest. Well, it seems that he would have to terminate the police detective without his sister. The ANBU leader turned his gaze to the man before him who was patiently waiting for his orders.

"Retrieve Sai's body. If he isn't dead, get rid of him as well as Temari Suna. You may put together a team since one operative wasn't enough to stop the Suna princess. How you dispose of her, I don't care, as long as there is no evidence left to collect, do you understand?" Danzo went back to rifling through his paperwork, indicating that he couldn't be bothered with such trivial matters for a second longer. Internally, he was disappointed that Sai Meisaku didn't live up to his expectations. Danzou had even given the man his true name just for this mission with a hope that upon his success, Sai would be able to join the higher ranks of ANBU—ROOT as a sleeper agent within the president's army. It would have been easier to bring down Naruto from the inside.

"Yes, sir," the man replied. "We shall have the person of interest eliminated before noon. The GPS tracker places Sai Meisaku's body in a neighbourhood known to Temari Suna. I suspect that she can't be that far."

The ANBU operative was blatantly ignored, and therefore exited the director's room without receiving a reply.

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XXXX

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"Stop moving or that hole in your leg is going to tear open again," Temari told the assassin trying to break free from his binds. "And if it does I'll be forced to chop your leg off to prevent infection, or kill you so I can finally have some peace and quiet around here. I don't have any extra medical supplies left to fix you up anymore and the doctor can't keep stealing them from work without getting caught at some point."

The man only smiled maliciously at her.

"I don't know why you won't just kill me." He commented. "Maybe, you have a crush on me or something."

Temari ignored the taunt, she was starting to get used to the man's crass behaviour. Besides, there would be no point in trying to talk to him on the same level; someone would probably end up with a bullet hole through the head, in that case. He still lay on the bed, her bed, while she was forced to sleep on an uncomfortable chair across the room. The air craft engineer checked his bonds at random intervals, even adding more zip-ties when necessary, to make sure that he was unable to escape while Tsunade, the doctor, would change his bandages. Actually, the hole in the kid's leg was healing nicely, but it was still a couple more weeks away from becoming of any use to him. Sasuke Uchiha had driven the bullet almost to the bone, narrowly missing the iliac vein, when he stomped on the assassin's leg. At his current state, he was a sitting and helpless duck in a barrel.

The doctor was out working, while Temari stayed in hiding with their prisoner. So far, there has been no information on her brother's condition. All she could do was worry, and hope that Sasuke Uchiha hadn't gotten around to killing her brother yet. Temari saw the news last week about the four bodies found in the ambulance that was supposed to be carrying the _White Snakes_ assassin. The police also listed her and the Kid on their wanted list. Although, as luck would have it, the composite sketch looked nothing like her and, since he was wearing his helmet, the only accurate information was of the assassin's motorcycle. Temari still had no identity, and it was too risky to go outside. The only thing she could do was find out more information on who she was dealing with.

Many days were spent searching up the _White Snakes_, _Akatsuki_, and _ANBU-ROOT_. Aside from doing her research, Temari would try to find out more about her captive. Who was he? She had tried to search him up, using her hacking skills to infiltrate ANBU—ROOT's system but to no avail. The guy simply did not exist; at least on paper he didn't exist, because he was here in front of her, flesh and bone.

"I already know that you're not going to answer me, but, I just thought I should be consistent in my questioning," Temari began, "Who are you?"

"I'm the person who's going to kill you." He replied cheerfully.

"First off, that's not going to happen." Temari frowned and crossed her arms as she received the same answer for the umpteenth time. "Secondly, I can't keep calling you 'Kid' when you've told me that you're older than me."

"You can call me 'Killer' if you want," The assassin offered. "I wish that I'd gotten that as a code name instead of the wimpy one I got this time around."

"No thanks, I guess, 'Kid' will have to do, kid." Temari stood up to go scrounge up something to eat, when she noticed the man involuntarily shake his good leg and a pained expression on his face, thinking that she couldn't see him. She turned back to him and sat by on the edge of the bed. "What's wrong?"

The man only closed his eyes and smiled, ignoring her.

"Come on, you're in pain." Temari urged him. This time, he was unable to hide his twitch. "Did you want water or something to eat?"

"Mind your own business, ugly woman," He retorted with a wince.

Temari thought back to what could be hurting the man. And, then realization hit.

"It's been days since you've gone," she noted, a forced blank look on the kid's face confirmed her observation. She laughed long and hard for the first time in a very, very long time.

"You better get me out of here if you don't want me to piss all over this bed." He grumbled; his dark eyes serious, all mischief gone.

Temari exited the room for a moment only to come back with a device of some sort.

"I have to put this on you, first." She smiled at him. "Actually, I've been waiting to try it out on someone."

Temari grabbed the assassin's arm and wrapped it with what looked like the cuff of a blood pressure machine complete with Velcro. She then tightened another band attached to the cuff on his arm around his leg. He grunted when the restraint tightened around his still-healing wound. At this time, Temari sliced off the plastic ties binding him.

"What the hell is this?" He asked rudely, indicating the contraption that replaced his previous bindings.

"It's an invention of mine." Temari replied. "Do you feel the nodes against your skin where the cuffs are?"

He nodded once.

"Well, let's just say that if you try to escape or try anything funny, you'll be feeling 50,000 volts at 1 to 2 amps coursing through your body at an average of 19 pulses per second." Temari grinned evilly at the man's confused expression.

"Is that supposed to scare me?"

"Power is Amperage multiplied by voltage. Just imagine, with a press of a button, you're going to be a wriggling mass on the floor with the same electrical force found in your run-of-the-mill defibrillator. Don't worry about pissing all over the bed: you should be more worried about whether or not I press this button."

"Help me up." The man accepted Temari's threat.

The electrical engineer tossed a crutch at the assassin.

"Do you think I'm stupid?" She laughed. "I'm not going to risk getting shocked by touching you. Help yourself out."

The Kid took hold of the wooden crutch and hoisted himself up. It was harder than he thought it would be. A few days on his back isn't ideal for a man with his occupation. He struggled to get up and headed for the door. Temari followed staying a couple of feet behind him as a precaution.

"It's the door to your right." She announced. "And, keep the door open."

The man only snickered.

"Ugly pervert."

"Yeah, that's right. I'm the ugly pervert with the kill switch." Temari noted with a touch of sarcasm. "Keep talking like that and you're going to have an idea what it's going to be like on an electric chair."

"An idle threat, I think." The assassin commented as he pushed through the washroom door. "Did you want to frisk me first? You know, for concealed weapons."

"The old woman already did that while you were asleep." Temari lied, yet relished the disgusted, crumpled expression on his face. "She also said that there wasn't anything of interest to be found. She was kind of disappointed, actually."

The dark-haired man only frowned at the comment, unable to erase the unappealing visual. "I walked right into that one, didn't I?"

"Hurry up and do your thing, before your bladder gives out." The blonde commanded.

There was a rush of fluid, the sound of a zipper fly, and then a flush.

"Don't forget to wash your hands." The engineer noted. "And use soap."

The sound of running water followed the command. A moment later, the pale assassin exited. Temari trailed after him as he led the way back to the room. Just as they were about to re-enter the room, a beeping sound from Temari's watch started to sound.

"Damn it, get back here!" she hollered as she pulled her captive back towards the washroom. She shoved him into the bathtub and covered his body with her own. The frequency of the beeping noise on her watch intensified to high-pitched pings.

"If you wanted me this much, you should have said something," The assassin grunted under her weight, "although, I probably would have rejected the offer."

"Shut the hell up, there's a—" Temari was unable to finish the statement when a loud blast rang out from the direction of the bedroom. Drywall dust covered the floor of what was left of the washroom. Whoever detonated the bomb knew their stuff, and, if it wasn't for the fact that they'd use a radio frequency as a detonator, Temari's wrist gadget wouldn't have detected the bomb.

She hauled her captor up and leant him against her allowing him to use her shoulder to stay up-right.

"We have to get out of here," she told him. "Are you with me, or not? If you want to live, you'll need me to survive. If you want to die, I can leave you here for them to find you."

"Leave me here," he answered. "I know you want to. You would be a lot stupider than I thought if you tried to save a disabled person who outweighs you by at least thirty pounds."

Temari stared into the kid's eyes and noted the absence of fear as if he was already resigned to die. Temari bent her legs and grabbed him by the waist then straightened her legs until he was hanging over her slight shoulder.

"Challenge accepted, but if you move, we're both going to die."

The statement left the assassin in shocked silence. Not just because she chose to save his life, but also because she lifted him over her shoulder as if he weighed nothing.

Temari didn't waste any more time and used the back exit but instead of going down towards the street, she climbed up the stairs to the roof which was luckily just the next floor up. The housing complexes in this part of town were crammed into the little neighbourhood so that the rooftops were only a few feet apart. The engineer did a few calculations in her head to figure out if it was possible for her to clear five feet across to the neighbouring roof with 170 pounds of assassin on her back.

The answer was no, it wasn't possible. She could hear the chaos and the sirens going off on the ground floor, buying her time. Whoever was after her wouldn't risk trying to out manoeuver a bunch of firefighters and cops slowly making their way up the stairs. Temari dropped her heavy burden and ripped off the Velcro Taser off him. She then tore out one of the probes and planned on using it to push out the hinge of the rooftop door. After propping a cylindrical probe against the rusty door hinge, she swiftly kicked with enough force to push the deteriorated metal away from the door jamb. It took a total of six kicks to completely extricate the steel door from its rooftop home.

The engineer then took the unattached door and slid it along the roof ledge to meet with the ledge of the adjoining roof. The door barely made it across the five-foot span, but would have to do in the current circumstance.

"Okay kid, this is going to be the hard part. I don't know if this door can hold both of our weight without shifting, but it's our only way out of here, you got that?"

He only nodded, quite impressed at how quickly the blonde woman's mind worked.

"I'll go first, and then I'll drag you up. Don't look down if you're afraid of heights, and try not to make any jerking movements until we're on the other side."

Temari propped the man with his back against the ledge in an upright, seated position. She then stood on the door, which still solidly sat atop the brick ledge, and used all her strength to get the man on top of the door with her. That accomplished, she only had to drag him across to the other side. It took a good ten minutes to get across the short length and to hide the door on their current rooftop. Temari was barely able to duck down when a couple of firefighters, guns pointed, emerged from the open space where the door used to be.

"Wait a minute, firefighters don't carry guns." Temari murmured to her fellow escapee. "They must be the men sent to kill me."

"They're ANBU-ROOT," the assassin replied quietly as they hid on their roof. "I've failed my mission which means that they're here to kill both of us."

He started to rip off his shirtsleeve.

"Temari, get it out." He said pushing on a small indent of skin on his arm. "It's my tracker."

"You had a tracker and you didn't tell me before we crossed the roof?" Temari didn't know which surprised her more. The fact that the man called her something other than ugly or pervert, or the fact that he'd kept a tracker concealed from both Tsunade and herself.

"It's your fault for not frisking me when I offered." He smiled despite the fact that their situation was serious.

"I don't have anything to cut it out," Temari started; there was only her burner phone in her pocket. "Wait, I can use the other probe."

She tore out the other probe on the band on the kid's leg and used the sharp, hook-like prong to cut open his arm at where the tracker was. There was a wave of blood and then a tiny pocket of silicone, which contained the tracker, spilled out. Temari snapped the thin, peg shaped tracker in half.

"We have to get out of here, kid."

"Sai," the man captured her gaze. "My name is Sai Meisaku."

"Sai," Temari repeated his name and wrapped his torn sleeve around the fresh cut on his arm to stem the bleeding, "let's get out of here."

The unlikely partners waited until they couldn't hear the people on the adjacent roof before making their way down the street via the neighbouring building.

Temari used the disposable cellphone in her pocket to text Tsunade the next safe house coordinates and to warn her not to return to her apartment before handing it off to another neighbourhood hoodlum.

"What do we do now?" Sai asked her as they blended in with the crowd.

"We try our best not to get killed." Temari answered.

"Good answer."

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XXXX

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"So, I guess the blue eyed devil didn't want to go home yet, huh?" Genma Shiranui said as he towered over his fellow detective. "When I heard that you finally woke up, I had to come and see it for myself. The devil came back from hell."

Gaara had awoken the afternoon before. Doctors and nurses kept coming up to him to explain his condition, but all explanation confused him. His throat was sore because of the breathing apparatus that was inserted there, and he had yet to get his voice back. Most of the time, his head would throb and ache when he tried to move. He couldn't lift up his head or arms, so he had to endure people hovering over him telling him things that he didn't want to hear let alone listen to. The one thing that Gaara was interested in was if Shiranui caught his brother's killer, but the man seemed to not understand his glare.

"Doc says that you couldn't talk yet, I told him that I wouldn't have noticed if he hadn't told me." The detective laughed at his own joke. Gaara continued to try to communicate telepathically. It didn't work.

"Oh, and that little girl you saved the night you got into the accident kept visiting you while you were knocked out." Genma pulled the toothpick from his mouth and ignored the icy glare directed at him. "The kid's back in the system, and her social worker was fired for not following up after her placement. I think that you'd better watch out, the kid might want you to adopt her something."

Gaara's thoughts went back to the night his brother died and pictured the scared little girl who found Kankuro's body. She must have been only nine or ten years old. It wasn't until Genma chose to ramble on about her that he thought of her. Moments later, Genma's phone rang pulling him back from his reverie. Genma spoke quietly and rapidly into the phone's receiver.

"Gaara, I got to go. I'll see you later. Maybe you'll be talking again next time I visit." The man placed the toothpick back into his mouth and exited the room continuing his phone conversation.

The redhead police detective wondered why he was brought back here. When he was supposedly in a coma, he had thought that he was in heaven. He couldn't feel any pain, and he was surrounded by his family. His parents were the first to welcome him, and then his brother came over to him to explain how sorry he was for leaving Ayame and that he really did try to stay. He didn't find his sister, but he thought that he could hear her voice for a time. Maybe she was in a different part of heaven? He didn't even know if he was in heaven or not. It all could have been a figment of his imagination, but he wanted so badly to return. Gaara wanted to go back to his family, to the family that loved him. He was tired of wandering Earth and wading through other people's pain and hatred trying to make sense of all the broken pieces he was given to fix.

Then, just like an angel of death, he came: shadowed eyes and dark hair, his skin as pale as newly painted white picket fences. He hadn't aged since the last time Gaara saw him. The blue-eyed cop smiled, welcoming his fate.

"Gaara, you do know what I came for." The figure told him.

Gaara parted his lips to reply, but only a dry breath escaped. Yes, he did understand, he'd always known this day would come. He'd always known that he wouldn't die until the Target came back to him. He hadn't believed the others when they told him that he was free from the dark figure. His reoccurring nightmares never let him forget about his own personal Boogieman. This man, his childhood nightmare, followed him through every dark corner and shadowed alleyway. Now, he was here to personally take him away. Gaara was thankful and at peace.

A needle and syringe entered his field of view. Gaara watched as the man known as the Target inserted the needle into a vein in his arm. He didn't feel the pain, but, he did feel the slight pull from his blood leaving him. The Target had extracted a vial of his blood as he had said he would all those years ago. Once the deed was done, the man tucked the vial into his pocket, and pulled out another vial.

"I'm sorry that I have to do this to you, Gaara," The dark angel said empathetically, "But, you will be reunited with your family once more."

Although it made him dizzy, he nodded his head. Yes, he wanted to go back to his father, his mother, his brother, and his sister. He needed to get out of this world filled with nothing: nothing for him.

Just as the needle was about to enter his arm, a cry rang out.

"Mr. Suna!" the shout echoed into the hallway. "Get away from him!"

A beep from his machine let loose another hiss as morphine entered his system. The world was fading into black, but Gaara managed to see the pained expression of the little girl he had saved the night his brother died.

"Please don't die, Mr. Gaara, I need you." Her tiny voice was the last thing he heard until spasms took over his body. "I need you."

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XXXX

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Anko awoke from another nightmare covered in sweat sending shivers throughout her body. In the dream, she had walked into her mother's room to find her lying on her side facing away from her. She didn't know how she knew that the room belonged to her mother only that it did. Anko could also tell that in the dream she was younger since she could barely see past the top of the bed's mattress. She remembered crawling around the foot of the bed to the other side. She had used her tiny hands to grip the bed frame to stand back up once on the other side.

She stood up to face the figure on the bed. The first thing she saw were the woman's chocolate-coloured eyes which were much like her own apart from the fact that they stared blankly at something only she could see. Little Anko had scrambled onto the bed.

"Mama," her high pitched voice whispered to her mother's still form. "Wake up."

The woman continued to gaze ahead. Anko tugged gently at her mother's dark hair and ran her chubby fingers through it as her mother would to her own hair every morning. The little girl didn't notice the blood that ran down the body's chin coming from colourless lips slightly curved into a small smile.

The child, Anko, wriggled herself to her mother's chest, draping the motionless woman's long midnight hair over her tiny arms. Tears started to pour from the little girl's eyes. Even though she had been innocent of many things, she instinctively knew that her mama wasn't going to move from her spot on the bed.

"Mama, wake up." She called out once more, hoping that her mother would move and sing her a lullaby like she promised this morning.

Her mother had a beautiful voice: it was light and airy and Anko knew that if she could hear heaven, it would sound like mama's voice. Maybe if she started to sing, mama would join in too.

"I love you forever," the little girl sung as she tightened her hold to the front of her mama's night shirt

"I love you for always," she sobbed as she tried to pull her mother back from death. "As long as I'm living, my baby you'll be."

Anko pressed her cheek to her mother's cold neck, breathing in her floral scent. It was her mother's favourite perfume because it came from her father. The scent made her sleepy as it mixed with the smell of death.

The little girl closed her eyes for only a few seconds until she heard faint click of the door opening before a frightening scream. The girl's eyes opened as wide as saucers when she was pried away from her mother.

"No!" she screamed, staying her hold on the front of her mother's shirt. "Mama, MAMA!"

Warm hands ripped her away from the cold, dead body of her beloved mother. Tears steadily dripped from her eyes like faucets and loud, pain-stricken cries took control of her tongue as disembodied arms pulled her further and further away until she could no longer see the soft, pale smile on her mama's ethereal face. Her short arms were outstretched in front of her until she herself became cold and her vision also dark.

* * *

XXXX

* * *

Anko pondered this as she re-lived the nightmare vividly. Was it just a dream or a distant memory? Without Kakashi nearby, the memories were coming back quicker than she'd wanted. She clutched to clumps of purple hair on either side of her head trying to calm her speeding pulse. She dry-heaved a couple of times before running to the bathroom to throw up in the toilet. After emptying the contents of her stomach, all she could do was lay on the cold tiled floor. How was she going to get out of here? Konan had said that it was up to Pein if she lived or died. The only reason why she hadn't been killed yet was because the Akatsuki leader wanted to use her as leverage in the war against the White Snakes.

As she was sprawled out on the floor, the door in the next room opened. Anko immediately stood up on shaky footing. There was someone at the door. It wasn't time for the scheduled meal yet, so there shouldn't have been anyone here to visit her. There were no available weapons in the tiny bathroom. There weren't even towels or towel racks. Anko backed out into the walk-in shower and shut the door, saying a quick prayer that it would end quickly.

She could see a shadowed-figure move closer through the opaque, multi-facetted shower door. Her heart thrummed in an erratic beat. Was this the end? Anko shut her eyes, not wanting to face her killer.

"Anko?" the light, monotone voice was barely a question. Its dry tone encapsulated Anko's fear and diminished it until it became nothing.

"Konan?" Anko got up and opened the glass door, despite the fact that the woman known as the White Angel had once professed that she would die by her hands.

"We are leaving," The White Angel said.

"Where are you taking me?" Anko asked as she exited the bathroom.

Konan didn't answer. There was an air of impatience surrounding the woman, so Anko quickly pulled on a black pair of jeans, and a beige, fitted leather jacket over a grey cotton shirt. Konan wore her regular business suit and paper flower broach. It was only a few minutes past four, when the two women headed out of Anko's room.

At first, Anko had been surprised when instead of being locked in a cell, like other prisoners, she was asked to stay in a room at Amegakure's most noted hotel: Silver Linings. Konan brought her to the lab. Ever since she was kidnapped from the President's residence and was forced to stay in Akatsuki territory, she was told to go to the lab at least once a day and submit a blood sample. At first she fought it, but when she was faced with a fully loaded Glock 18 pointed between her eyes, she decided that it would be easier to submit to the tests. Usually, she would be taken to the lab late in the night to avoid the scientists and doctors using it during the day.

"What do they expect to find?" Anko asked.

Konan kept silent, she pulled Anko through the laboratory doors by the hand and sat her down on an examination table. Anko knew the routine, and took off her jacket and rolled up her shirt sleeves. Konan continued the blood extraction without saying a word. Anko winced as the needle pierced her skin to her vein. This was the ninth blood sample taken from her in the last week. She was surprised that her vein hadn't collapsed yet from the amount of blood taken from it.

"This is the last one," Konan said softly, startling Anko.

The Akatsuki officer retrieved the vials containing the blood samples, and put a Band-Aid in place to stem the bleeding. Konan then inserted the samples into a chute that lead to a different location.

"What is your favour?" Konan looked away as she asked the ex-spy. "Remember, I cannot spare your life."

Realization hit Anko. "You've got what you wanted. And, now, you're here to kill me."

There was no answer only a quick jab to the younger woman's solar plexus. Anko bent in pain, but remained on the table.

"What is your favour?" The older woman asked again.

"You have to tell me why you're after me. I don't know why everyone wants me to die so badly."

"Are you sure that this is what you want as your favour?" Konan confirmed.

Anko nodded and sat back down on the examination table. Unbeknownst to Konan, Anko separated the needle from the used syringe and hidden it between her fingers, waiting for an opportune moment to attack and escape.

"Yes, I want to know all the answers before I die. I want to know why my life was ruined."

Konan ripped a piece of paper from a prescription pad on a desk perpendicular to the exam table and proceeded to do what she did best: fold. She started to fold the corners and flaps of the paper. It wasn't until she had created a perfect square that she started her explanation.

"You are infected with a virus." The woman began.

Anko clutched her abdomen which was still aching from the Akatsuki's previous attack. "I don't feel sick."

"You're not supposed to." Konan finished folding the paper into a swan and placed it on at a spot beside Anko on the examination table. "The virus was created naturally in you, and laid dormant until it was discovered. Since it was a natural mutation like mixed eye colours or webbed toes, it doesn't affect you at all."

"That doesn't make any sense." Anko stood from her perch on the table and started to pace the room. Konan only finished folding another animal: this time it was a giraffe. "How can a virus be created naturally? And, how can a mutation be viral?"

"It's a mutation in the way that it occurs in you as a physical trait in your DNA. It is a virus in the way that it can be passed on sexually, leaving the recipient susceptible to its effects. If it wasn't for that fact that your father was a geneticist, no one would ever have found out what it was and how its power can be harnessed."

Anko halted, shocked at what she had really done to those men she had been sent to bait. "Are you saying that those men that I—"

"Yes, the men that Orochimaru sent you to have died after being infected by you."

Anko thought back to her kiss with Kakashi.

"How long does an infected person have to live before succumbing to the virus?"

"We have noted that without the vaccine, an unknowing carrier lives to about two months before noticeable symptoms and then, shortly after that, the subject expires." Konan looked up from her folding and smiled as she held up an origami tiger complete with orange stripes drawn on by an orange highlighter on hand. "If you're thinking that you've given the virus to Kakashi after you kissed him the night that we abducted you. The virus is like the HIV virus in the way that it infects and the fact that it attacks the immune system. Although, there is less than 0.1 percent of the virus in your saliva, so, there would be virtually no way that he can be infected unless you've slept with him."

"I didn't," Anko breathed a sigh of relief before laughing. "My foster father, Orochimaru, told me never to sleep with men I liked."

Konan nodded in understanding.

"Now tell me why you need the virus."

"Do you remember what ended the first Great War?" The assassin asked the spy. When the ex-_Snakes_ spy shook her head, the other woman continued. "The war took place at what is now the current border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Earth. The Fire Country, now Fire Continent, released a radiation bomb to finally defeat the opposing Earth Country. This caused the deaths of many people. Entire civilizations were destroyed, and the survivors were more or less wiped out unless they were able to adapt to the environment. This time was what geneticists called: the mutation era. As you can probably guess, the Mutation Era led to the different abilities of certain families. Now, 600 years later in present day Fire Continent, these mutations have stabilized and can be used and modified as we wish."

Anko still held the needle tip between her fingers, biding her time until she got her answers. "I like a history lesson as much as the next guy, but this doesn't answer my question. Are you saying that there are others like me?"

"No, there is no one like you, Anko. If there were more people like you, you wouldn't have to die tonight." Konan lifted up a folded creature to the ceiling light and frowned. She then threw away the malformed piece into the waste bin by her leg. "The Mutation Era caused nine predominant mutations. The DNA of people with these nine sets of mutations has survived although with diminished qualities."

"What does this mutation business have to do with me?"

"Your virus is found to be compatible with these mutated DNA, where they enhance the mutation in the person without negatively affecting the carrier."

"I still don't follow." Anko walked closer to her captor.

Konan continued to fold.

"Instead of eradicating and vaccinating your virus, Orochimaru used it to enhance the abilities of a mutated gene carrier." Konan turned to face Anko. "For example, Naruto Uzumaki, is a mutated gene carrier. If he is given your virus, his mutation would be exemplified."

"What is his mutation?"

"Naruto carries a mutation of increased speed and stamina. Why do you think he's known as the Number One Hyperactive Knucklehead?"

"But, isn't the president your enemy? Why do you want to enhance his capabilities?"

"We have taken samples from all nine mutation carriers and have extracted their mutant DNA. Now, with your virus, we will multiply these enhancements and make them accessible to the public. This will eliminate the need for Kabuto's super drug and end the potential war between the _Akatsuki_ and _White Snakes_ before it even starts."

"That is why Kabuto wants to kill me, isn't it?" Anko stated. "And you're killing me to get a prime cut of the market, thus driving out any competitors, such as the _Snakes_, for example."

"You are correct."

"Thank you for your thorough explanation, Konan, but it isn't fair that I have to die so that no one else can use my DNA."

"Did you know that if my daughter had lived she would have been about your age?" Konan placed the origami heart she completed into Anko's palm.

Anko's throat narrowed at the confession, a flash of memory from her earlier nightmare caught her unawares. "I didn't know that you had a child."

"I did," Konan confirmed. "She was beautiful, perfect. I lo—cared for her, very much. But, that's the thing about life, sometimes it doesn't go according to plan. She was supposed to get married and live far away where she would never get hurt because of my occupation. She didn't know that her mother was an assassin nor did she know that she should have been on guard."

"How did she die?" Anko asked, eyeing the folded heart in her hand. "How old was she?"

"She died two years ago," Konan stated. "As for how she died…"

There was a long pause as a dark shadow appeared over the Akatsuki officer's pale, emotionless visage. The distant look in Konan's eyes made it seem as if she was not truly present.

"Anko, you killed her." There was no emotion, only plain fact in her voice. "My daughter was going to marry a man who unfortunately fell for your seduction. He contracted your virus, and passed it onto my daughter. They died together since we didn't have a vaccine then."

"That is why you want to kill me." Anko held a hand to her mouth, the paper heart crushed in her fist.

"No, I have orders to kill you." Konan smiled and placed the origami swan, giraffe, and tiger in a row on the now unoccupied examination table. She then pried the paper heart from Anko's grip and set it beside the tiger despite its crinkled state. "Shall we get on with it, then?"

The Akatsuki assassin lifted a pistol from her shoulder holster and trained it at her captive's head. "You can call this payback, but it really isn't. Killing you will not bring my daughter back to life. Ending a life has never given me satisfaction, but, I understand that in some cosmic way, it is necessary. You, Anko Mitarashi, are dangerous to the world. You cannot be allowed to live."

Anko closed her eyes, the needle point between her fingers stayed useless. Maybe it was better if she didn't exist in this world. There was no way for her to live a peaceful life here. She could never exist where she was the enemy, where she was the reason why people died.

"Please," the ex-spy pleaded to her assassin. "Do it now. I know the pain that I caused you, but please, let your daughter be the last daughter I kill."

Konan nodded, waited for Anko to close her eyes, and took aim. Just before she pulled the trigger, there was a click coming from above her. There she found herself staring into the blood red eyes of the Uchiha assassin. Konan raised her hands and placed her weapon down in surrender. Sasuke Uchiha would take Anko out of here. He would save her. Konan pointed to the origami animals on the examination table. She saw Sasuke take in their shapes before nodding. She smiled at him.

Anko kept her eyes clutched close, thinking of Kakashi. She thought of her meager promise to fight for life just a couple of weeks ago. It was funny how useless they all were. She heard the gun click as the trigger released the bullet. She took one last intake of air when the sound of a body dropped in front of her.

The younger woman opened her eyes in wide shock and her vision focused on the motionless body of Konan splayed out on the ground before her. Uncaring of the consequences, she knelt down beside the other woman and took her into her arms.

"Konan, Konan, wake up!" She screamed, at the other woman's smiling, quivering mouth and nearly lifeless amber eyes. She pressed on the single wound to the woman's chest, blood soaked through the gaping wound onto her hand. Konan's fingers still twitched, adding pressure to Anko's jaw. The dying woman took many deep breaths, desperate to speak.

"Anko…" she gasped despite the pain. "My—my daughter…"

Anko watched as Konan's crystal clear eyes faded to a dull, unseeing shade. Tears along with the blood soaked her hands. It seemed that wherever she went, it would always be stained with both. She muttered Konan's name over and over against the dead woman's neck, a silent mantra that she desperately prayed would revive the dead.

"Kill me already, Uchiha!" Anko screamed angrily, unwilling to turn her gaze away from Konan's angelic visage. "Do your duty and kill me so you can crawl to your master like a good puppy."

"Stupid woman," Sasuke replied; his impatience peeking through. "I wasn't here to follow Kabuto's orders. I was let into the fortress city to kill this woman."

"Then, do what Kabuto wants and kill me too. I am prepared to die!" Anko finally turned her tear-stricken eyes at the assassin. "I am tired of being hunted down, and have innocent lives taken because of me. I don't want to live anymore! I want to die. Just let me die!"

Sasuke ignored the woman's ranting and hauled her up by an arm. "She wanted you to escape. Let's go."

"No, you have to kill me first!" Anko screamed. Sasuke slapped her across the face, putting her in a shocked stupor.

"Listen to me, Anko. Konan let me into the city with the single mission to get you out. She knew that her treachery would lead to her death, so she staged this scenario. She still believed in the Akatsuki's plans, but she didn't want to kill you. She couldn't kill you."

"Why couldn't she kill me?" Anko hiccupped before releasing a sob.

"To her, you became a stand in for her dead daughter. Like she said, her daughter would have been your age."

"What's in it for you?" Anko asked the younger man.

"I am a mercenary. I don't care about politics or the wishes of a nation. I follow the mission that aligns with my own plans. After hearing the reason why Kabuto wants you dead, I know that I will need you alive."

"What if I don't want to go with you?"

"I will bring you back to Kakashi. Do you not want to see him again?"

"Take me anywhere, but don't bring me back to him." Anko announced.

"Then let's go." Sasuke helped the purple-haired spy to her feet and led the way out of the laboratory.

After exiting the doors, he activated a timed bomb to go off. He then took her through the deserted courtyard of the Silver Linings Hotel. Just as they got to a darkened alley, the bomb had gone off, setting fire to more than half of the hotel's upper levels. Sirens started to go off into the distance, and crowds of people started to appear at vantage points to see the commotion. Sasuke pressed Anko against a building wall, when a few cops jogged down the alley toward the mile-high flames.

"Make it look convincing," he mumbled before affixing his cold lips to hers. She shut her eyes hoping the uncomfortable pressure would end soon. Two officers approached, making lewd comments to the couple as they passed.

When the cops had gone, Sasuke pulled away and led them through a maze of side streets until they came to a fountain with a marble-carved swan centerpiece. Then they passed through a set of double doors into a church. There were some parishioners kneeling in prayer and others sleeping on the wooden pews. The spy and assassin silently exited to the back of the church where they went around the deserted parking lot until they came upon a tall tree trimmed into the shape of a giraffe. Behind the giraffe was a chain linked fence with a covered gate leading to undeveloped land.

The sun was rising, faster than Sasuke had anticipated. They didn't have much time left before someone would go after them. Konan wasn't just an Akatsuki officer: she was also the lover of the Akatsuki leader. Pein was not a forgiving man, and to lose his lover would set loose a world of hurt on her killer. It meant that if they didn't escape within the hour, he and Anko would be killed. He couldn't let that happen until he had his revenge on Itachi.

"Hurry up, you're lagging behind." He hissed at the stumbling woman behind him.

"I'm trying!" She hissed back.

"Faster," he ignored her terse remark. "We're almost there."

In mere moments, the rocky, uneven ground turned to a flat, winding foot trail.

"We're in the middle of Tora Park." Sasuke pronounced. "We have to find the tiger shrine."

"Konan did this, didn't she?" Anko said remembering the swan, giraffe, and tiger paper figures the amber-eyed woman had made for her. "She was trying to get us out."

"Yes, now enough of your sentimentality, we have to survive."

The trail had led to a large pond where the tiger shrine was in an alcove accessible by water.

"There's got to be some kind of mistake." Sasuke huffed. "That woman's going to get us killed."

At that note, helicopter lamps concentrated on them. Sasuke swore before pushing Anko into the water. The helicopter wasted no time to start firing its mounted guns. A hail of bullets entered the water after them. Anko could barely see Sasuke in the murky waters. But, something in her gut told her to continue towards the tiger statue. She wanted so badly to rise to the surface for air, but knew that if she did it would mean death.

Anko dove deeper until she reached the base of the tiger statue where there was a cave opening beneath. Sasuke followed her to the cave opening. They had almost run out of air when a rip-tide sucked them into the cave opening. Their fate trapped in the White Angel's hands. Anko fought to keep her last breath but lost. It escaped in bubbles and disappeared in the darkness of the water. She was sucked deeper and deeper. She closed her eyes, afraid of death. Sasuke was nowhere to be seen; maybe he was pulled deeper because of his heavier weight. A watery grave: she didn't expect it to end quite like this. That was her last thought when air deprivation shut her brain.

* * *

XXXX

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"I guess, the doctor's still in the house, huh?"

Sakura almost dropped the slide she was analyzing at the unexpected voice booming from behind her.

"Naruto, what are you trying to pull?" Sakura stood from her chair, turned, and glared at the president of Konoha. "I told you that I didn't want you hanging around here while I'm working."

"Aw, but Sakura, you're working all the time." Naruto entered the doctor's office, pushing himself from his leaning position against the door jamb. "You never make time for fun."

Sakura's frown deepened before sitting at her table again. "I do make time for fun. I'm sure that I'll have plenty of fun after the war."

"So, what's the latest development in tracking the unknown virus strain?" Naruto hovered over the young doctor to the open page on her computer.

"Well, I think I've found Orochimaru's hit list." Sakura said as she pulled up a list of names on her computer screen. She pointed to the computer screen to indicate the length of the list. "These are the people that Anko has killed."

"All these men? Are you sure?" Naruto squinted, as if it would make the list of casualties shorter.

Sakura nodded. "It may be fewer, but these are the men and women who have died because of the unknown virus strain. We know that the virus source is Anko since the most progressive version of the virus is found in the blood sample we obtained from her."

"But, that's still a lot of people." Naruto murmured, still in shock.

"Well, you have to keep in mind that the people Anko infected become carriers of the virus until their own death. This fact will narrow down the list once I've found out how all these people are connected."

"What do we do about Anko, then?" Naruto asked. "Should I send someone to eliminate her?"

"Don't be stupid, Naruto, killing someone isn't going to end everything. It's not her fault that she was used as a bio-weapon by her father. Besides, we would need her to create a vaccine or cure to this epidemic."

Naruto furrowed his brows, contemplating Sakura's argument.

"You're right. I'll hold off on the kill squad, but we have to get her back to prevent any more deaths. We need to stop this virus before it takes more innocent lives."

Sakura smiled up at the blond man and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"You really got this president act together haven't you?" She murmured staring into his twinkling blue eyes. "This new, sophisticated Naruto kind of makes me miss the hyperactive knucklehead you used to be."

"You want the knucklehead back?" Naruto smirked naughtily. "Why can't women make up their minds?"

He dipped his head the short distance it took to ensure that his lips consumed hers. Sakura had no retort for the president's answer. She leant in, pulling him closer, desperate for his taste. The kiss scorched down her limbs in liquid, bone melting fire. It wouldn't be much longer until her knees gave out.

Sensing Sakura's discomfort, Naruto used an arm around her waist to keep her at appropriate kissing level. When they broke for air, both were forced to take deep even breaths. There was something about this woman that drove him pleasantly insane.

"Naruto, you knucklehead," She whispered against his lips. "There's a camera in my office."

"Are you going to let me take you to dinner, or do you want to give Neji and Tenten a show?" He whispered back, unable to hide his grin. He gave a flirtatious wink at the security camera overhead. "I'm starting to feel a little bit hyperactive, thanks to that kiss of yours."

"Fine, we'll go out for dinner, but we have to go where no one will recognize you. That time at the Korean Barbecue place was painfully boring. Three hours of politics. What a yawn, no thanks."

"I never knew I had so many fans." Naruto agreed. "This time we'll go where we won't get mobbed."

Sakura stepped away to grab her purse after shutting down her computer.

"So, where do we go 8000now, Mr. President?" She smiled at the blond doofus.

"My place," he stated simply before kissing her once more full on the lips, killing any arguments where they lay.

Naruto hauled the young doctor away, promising to deliver her every wish.

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A/N:

Woah, is that you? I almost didn't recognize you since it's been so long since I've last updated. Well, here is the latest chapter titled Fallen Angel. If you read the chapter, the Angel I was refering to is Konan. As for why I killed off Konan, I guess I just wanted to. No, that's not it, there's a reason why I killed her off. At least I think there is. Or maybe it was a mistake.

Hmm, anyway, I hope that you enjoyed reading this chapter. It gets into some pretty heavy, emotional plots and kind of leaves everything open-ended. This chapter is probably the longest I've written so far (8000+ words). But, it is one of the more necessary chapters since it reveals a bit more about Anko's virus and how it was used as a bio-weapon by Orochimaru. If anyone was offended, I must remind you that this story is rated M for that reason. I will not include sex scenes (or lemons? as they are sometimes refered to) because I'm not that kind of writer. Although, I have implied it many times regarding Anko's work for the White Snakes.

Some stuff I wanted to note in this chapter:

**1) What is the song that little Anko was singing to her dead mother?** This song was from one of my favourite books when I was a kid. My mom read and sang it to me until I was about 7 or 8 years old. The song is from a book called: "I love you, Forever" by Rober Munsch.

**2) Why is this chapter is so long?** Yes, I could have shortened this chapter, but I don't want to have to keep it from readers for longer than I have to. With my very limited writing time, I would prefer to get it out there.

**3) Is Sasuke really a good guy or a bad guy disguised as a good guy?** As for that, only time will tell. I'm still deciding on what I will have him do next.

**4) Naruto and Sakura? What, what?** Yeah, it's just to add a little bit more to their characters. I guess, as much as I want Naruto and Hinata to be together, it's just difficult for me to write them as a couple unless it's a one-sided love affair on Hinata's part. I never really thought that Naruto in the series would go for Hinata.

and lastly,

**5) Is Gaara dead? I need to know!** The answer is: No, he is not dead...yet. Muhahaha, I am evil (cliffhanger-wise).

Please review and tell me what you think. Did I got too far, or not far enough? What did you like and what didn't you like? I want to hear from you. I will start on the next chapter as soon as I can so as always: Please Stay Tuned.


	14. Let's Go

Chapter 14: Let's Go

Hinata sat across from her husband at a local eatery. The simple gold band on her finger felt heavy. She wasn't used to wearing her wedding ring. She had only worn it on the day of her wedding, and for about ten months when she and Kiba had lived together. The silence between them was uncomfortable as they ate the food in front of them. What should she say to the husband she had barely seen in over five years? What words could she use to get him to give up his love for her? Her chest tightened and panic started to cause her head to throb wildly. There were no diplomatic words, or civil words, that would appease Kiba's emotions. It is probably because emotional words are what he needed to hear, not the often used, clinical words of a diplomat she was proficient in using. She took a sip of water from her cup, hoping that it would help make the headache go away, yet it didn't help at all. Her nerves still threatened to overcome her.

A moment later, warmth covered her hand. Startled, Hinata's gaze flew to Kiba, who was still using his right hand to eat, and his left hand to hold her right. He did not pay attention to her staring and continued to enjoy his meal as if holding her hand awkwardly from across the table was the most natural thing in the world. The ring on his finger was aged and a tan line hid underneath. Now, she could remember why she had loved him all those years ago: he was fiercely loyal. The thrumming in her skull started to ebb, and she was able to enjoy her meal again. Despite, being right-handed, Hinata continued to eat her salad with her left hand. She had nothing to worry about regarding, Kiba, he was still the same guy she had married all those years ago. Nothing has changed.

"Haven't you taken off your ring?" She asked him, trying to make small-talk. "We were separated these last few years."

"Nope," He replied. "I've been married for about nine years, so I've had the ring on for just as long."

"What about after the time we separated? Why didn't you take it off?"

"Why would I? I was still married, just as I am now." He grunted and continued to dip his undercooked fries into a plop of ketchup. "I might have been 17 years old when I married, you, Hinata, but I knew what I was getting into. I also wanted forever. And when you didn't want a divorce, I took it as a sign that you still wanted to be in this relationship."

"Oh," Hinata couldn't help but answer. "I'm sorry that I didn't keep my ring on, the entire time. I didn't want anyone asking who my husband was, when I thought that you didn't want to see me again."

A pause followed. Neither of them spoke, only the murmurs of the surrounding crowd filled the air between them.

"I like this," Kiba finally spoke, gesturing to the table, and pointedly staring at their joined hands—her ring glistening as if new against his palm. "I like having dinner with someone for once."

"Don't you have dinner with your mother or sister?" Hinata felt confident enough to ask.

"Nope, we're on different shifts at Inuzuka Corp. so family meal times are regulated to holidays, if at all. Besides, you're prettier company." He answered with a charming half-smile. "How about you, how are your father, Hinabi, and Neji?"

"They're doing well. Father is happy that I've finally taken politics seriously, and Hinabi is studying to be a doctor. Neji is still the estates manager for the government, so he's kept busy with keeping track of all the government properties. We're all pretty busy." Hinata rattled on, hoping to stay on a safe topic. "Is working as a career soldier difficult for you? I remember that you said that you preferred peace time."

"Of course I prefer peace, but I still have to do my best to protect everyone from enemy threats. The fact that doing my duties means that I am protecting you and other civilians, I can do it happily." Kiba started to trace her knuckles with his thumb absentmindedly as he spoke.

"That's nice of you to say," The dark-haired diplomat's face flushed at her husband's candid answer. "Oh, and how is Akamaru? He was just a tiny little puppy back then."

"He's a lot bigger now. It's hard to take him anywhere nowadays because of his gigantic size, so he usually helps out with canine training at the base. He knows all of the manoeuvers so the training officers usually like working with him."

"I was wondering why you didn't bring him around. All of the other Inuzuka Corp. soldiers had a dog with them, but you didn't. And, the two of you were inseparable back in your heyday."

"Well, now you know." Kiba continued to smile. He loved hearing Hinata's voice. He didn't care if she was reading the personal journal of a killer like Orochimaru, or if she was talking plainly to him, just as she was now. "Do you still figure skate?"

Panic flashed in Hinata's eyes and Kiba knew that he stepped over the line with the question. But, it was too late to take it back, so he would have to deal with the consequence.

"Um, no, I don't skate anymore," Hinata quipped. It had been so long since she had competed, and she didn't expect Kiba to remember much about her from her teens. "I grew out of it, I guess."

"That's too bad, I thought you were great." Kiba noted simply. He was neither prying nor letting the subject go. "The first time mom pointed you out as my future wife, we watched you win gold at the national championships. I couldn't see your face clearly because of the distance, and our seats were right under the screens, but I could tell that even though I knew nothing about you, you were someone dedicated to doing your best to achieve your goals. I'm glad to say that after I officially met you, everything I thought about you was true."

"That's very kind of you to say, Kiba." Hinata savoured his name on her lips as she had rarely said it these last few years, and she knew that he was a genuinely good man. If it weren't for the darkness she locked within her past, she would have been madly in love with him still and she would have stayed devotedly at his side. But, alas, this wasn't the time nor the place to remember old, first loves. Nor was it time to get hung up on a happily ever after meant to stay in fairy-tales.

"How about me?" He asked her a moment after.

"Pardon?" She asked confused. "What about you?"

"What did you think of me when we first met?" Kiba enquired.

The grey-eyed beauty's mind scrambled in horror at the unexpected question until a long lost memory transported her back to hers and Kiba's clandestine wedding day at her family's vineyard.

* * *

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_Hinata hated her father for forcing her to marry a man—no, boy—she didn't know or had even laid eyes on. Couldn't he see that she wanted to marry for love? Tears filled her eyes, thinking of what she was going to lose that day. That evening, while she was barely seventeen, she would be a married woman. She would have to yield to her husband's wishes, and desires. Hinata hated to think what would happen in their marriage bed, would he force her to have sex with him?_

_At the frightful thought, she sobbed painfully. She wanted to marry a kind man, who knew and loved her, peace treaty be damned!_

"_Hey, don't cry. It'll be alright."_

_Startled at the unexpected voice, Hinata tried to hide her tears behind her hands. After taking a cautious peek at the trespasser, she turned away. She didn't want some day-labourer's son to see her like this._

"_I'm not crying," she whispered, trying valiantly to stop her choked sobs._

_The boy, for he couldn't be much older than her, placed a comforting hand upon her back._

"_There, there," he murmured soothingly. "Don't cry."_

_When Hinata had found her composure, his hand held hers as he stared up at the clear skies. Without her tears blurring her vision, she was able to see how beautiful the boy was. Actually, in a couple of years, he would be a man, she thought. His bright smile eased her worries; at least for the moment._

"_You don't even know why I'm crying." She told him._

"_Do you want to talk about it, then?" he replied._

"_N-no, I'd rather not," she shut her eyes, hoping that this was just a mixed up dream._

"_Do you like dogs?" He had asked her waiting a moment for her to nod her answer. "Come here, Akamaru!" he called loudly._

_A tiny puppy ran around the corner of the house and jumped into his master's lap like a rambunctious child promised to be taken to the park. Soft woofs and growls accompanied the young pup as he tugged at the boy's shirt sleeves._

"_See, he's a good boy for the most part," the labourer's son explained, wiping dirty, work-worn hands on his dark jeans. "He likes people. Here, you can hold him if you want. He won't bite."_

_He transferred the tiny bundle of dog into Hinata's awaiting hands. She cooed and petted the small puppy. The dog rumbled pleasantly when she petted his head and neck._

"_He was the runt of the litter, like me." The boy smiled sheepishly at his admission. "I've never told anyone this, but that's the reason why I chose him in the first place. I know that one day he'll be stronger than his brothers and sisters. All he needs is someone to teach him to be strong."_

_Hinata liked listening to the boy's stories: his kindness was greater than the other boys her age. They sat on the porch for hours, unaware of the time passing. The boy told her stories about his adventures with Akamaru and how he wanted to be a soldier one day and die a hero like his father who had fought in the Kirigakure war. As the midafternoon heat started to cool, Hinata could only think that if only she were to marry him instead of the spoiled Inuzuka brat, she'd be a lot happier about the forced love match. The Inuzuka's were known in Konoha for their ill tempers and strength as a clan. How could an ill-tempered child used to getting his way even compare to this sweet labourer's son?_

_A gust of wind blew across the house's porch where they were seated, and the boy turned his body to shield hers from the frigid air._

"_We should get you inside," he ran a hand through thick, unkempt hair before standing up. Akamaru jumped from her hands to stand by his master's feet. "I don't want you to get cold."_

_Hinata let him take her hand, knowing fully that she would follow him where ever he went._

"_Wait," he said before they got through the doors._

_She halted, captivated by his toothy grin. He pulled the tips of her black-fire hair and re-arranged it back to the way it was before the gust messed it up. His fingers in her hair were comforting and reminded her of when her mother used to brush her hair each night when she was younger._

"_I couldn't let you go to your wedding with your hair messed up like that." He stated. "The groom would kill me."_

_Tears threatened to fill her eyes again. For a moment she had forgotten that she was wearing the ceremonial robes to befit a princess, and the jewelry to match. Like a lamb being led to slaughter, her first love was leading her to her husband. Maybe the boy was one of the Inuzuka's charge hands sent to find her for the wedding ceremony._

"_I wanted to marry for love," she stated, feeling like she had to tell someone what she wanted, because no one else would listen. "I don't want to marry a spoiled brat."_

"_He also wanted the same thing, you're fiancé, I mean. He wanted the woman he was going to marry to love him. But, duty and protecting the safety of his family comes first. That is why, even though he's a spoiled brat, he's going to try his best not to be one once he marries you."_

_Before Hinata could confess to the boy that she'd rather marry him, she was pulled away by the dressers and make-up artists. The boy disappeared into the crowd._

_An hour later, the ceremony started. The only ones present were the immediate members of each family and the officiator. Hinata's view was obstructed by a veil. She was led up the aisle by her father. She could see her husband's figure through the veil, but couldn't make out his appearance because of the intricate lace designs of the veil's top layer._

_The officiator announced the start of the ceremony. Papers were signed and sealed, and rings were exchanged. Hinata's fingers shook as she signed her name on the marriage document and felt the cool piece of jewelry slide against her finger; her ring. There was no going back now. There was no chance for love now, Hyugas didn't get divorced. The final part of the ceremony was where the bride and groom kissed. It was more for tradition's sake than anything else. Everyone present knew that this was a merger, rather than a marriage. Hinata gave one last thought to the kind boy who held her hand as they watched the seemingly endless blue sky together. It would be her saving memory from this moment on._

_She shut her eyes as her veil was lifted. She wanted to prolong her fantasy._

"_Please open your eyes," a voice asked her._

No, just a moment more,_ her mind begged._

_Then she felt a soft kiss on her forehead instead of her lips._

_Her eyes flashed open, and took in her husband's bright, unfathomable eyes. They were the same eyes she had been gazing into all afternoon. Her husband was the labourer's son and the Inuzuka charge hand!_

_He took her into his embrace._

"_I knew I had to marry you when I saw you today. But, I want you to know that even though we are married, I do want to get to know you more before we take this further. I want you to love me. If you don't think that you ever will love me, tell me and I will let you go." He whispered into her ear, his breath caressing her neck. "I don't want to let you go, Hinata, but I will if you ask."_

_Hinata pulled away from him. Was he serious? What seventeen year old boy with raging hormones would give up sex? Apparently, it would be the same boy who was her husband. Maybe he had fallen in love with her in that short afternoon as she had with him. Maybe, despite the odds, they had a chance at a loving marriage._

"_Let's go," he said with a smile, as he held her hand. She smiled back, her young heart full of love, and went with him; not knowing that in the future, pain would cause her to repel his love._

_That night, they were separated once more. Her husband had to start his military duties. Hinata wouldn't lay eyes on him again until years later._

* * *

XXXX

* * *

"So, have you thought about what you like most about me?" Kiba teased. "Is it my charming way with words, or my chiselled features?"

Hinata shook her head, tamping down a wayward giggle.

"No," She smiled widely. "I like the fact that you love me despite my faults."

Oh no, she had let the proverbial cat out of the bag. During the entire evening, she was trying to lead the topic away from his feelings for her, and here she brings up the touchy subject herself.

His hand instantly grabbed hers from across the table.

"You're not just yanking my chain, are you?" Hope filled his eyes: hope and love. Love she couldn't return without hurting him even more. Maybe, Tsume was right. Kiba deserved to know why she couldn't love him anymore. But, Hinata knew that the time wasn't right, not in public where he would be forced to hide his hatred for her.

"Kiba, why do you think I left you five years ago?" She finally asked him.

* * *

XXXX

* * *

"_Kiba, please let me go!" Hinata cried, pounding on his chest, physically pushing him away._

"_Not until you tell me why you've decided to leave me. You know that I love you, Hinata. You know that I will always protect you. Why do you want to leave me? Am I not good husband to you?" Kiba locked her in place; his arms acting as impenetrable pillars on either side of her head against the wall. He bit back much angrier words threatening to rip from his lips. But, he didn't want to hurt her. She needed to know that he wasn't going to give her up without a fight._

"_You promised on our wedding day that you would let me go, if I asked." Tears slipped down her cheeks converging on the underside of her chin. "I'm asking you now to let me go. What more do you want?"_

"_Why do this so suddenly? I am still a man, Hinata. I feel and I bleed. My wife leaving me without a reason is something I can't deal with." He continued to rage, his fang-like incisors bit into his bottom lip harshly. "Did I hurt you? Was I lacking in anyway? You don't let me touch you anymore as if you're disgusted by me. Have you found a lover, Hinata?" Jealousy poured from him as the hands on either side of her head turned to fists. Yet, they didn't move to strike her._

"_No," she screamed, stopping his madness. "I-It has nothing to do with you. You are a wonderful man, a kind, honest man…"_

"_But," Kiba supplied._

"_But, I don't love you anymore!" She lied. She had to do it to survive. She couldn't deal with his feelings for her, not with the guilt ripping her apart from the inside-out. "I realized that what I had with you was a child's first love. It isn't the same as the love a grown woman has for a man."_

"_I understand," his heart breaking could be seen through his disappointed eyes and his slack jaw. He pulled away from the wall, and turned so she wouldn't see him break._

_Oh how Hinata wanted to kiss away the blood and tears comingling on his lips, but the lie had already taken its effect. Kiba had turned away from her, his body tense. This was what she deserved; she never deserved his love in the first place. She would only cause him pain._

"_I-If that is the case, then, you are free, Hinata." He said stiffly, lacking all warmth. Without realizing it, she'd grown accustomed to his gentle, soothing voice since their first night together in each other's arms. "I will not burden you with my emotions. I hope that in the future, we can still be friends."_

_The words stung and hurt more than being run through by a sword. He had somehow lost Hinata's love; what a fool he was. He'd had it all, and lost the most important thing to him._

_Months later, Hinata was hired by the government as a diplomat dealing with foreign affairs. Kiba sent signed divorce papers, consenting to the dissolution of their marriage a year later, despite Konoha leaders' adamant protests. But, the papers came back with a short note from Hinata reading:_

'Let me be married to you a little longer.'

_At her request, he did as asked, wondering if she would let him win her back._

* * *

XXXX

* * *

"You left because you didn't want me or love me anymore." He answered; the pain still fresh as it was five years ago. Yet, he chose to smile empathetically, his dark eyes filled with emotion. "But, I understood. You should have been free to choose the man you wanted to love, not force-fed a marriage to me."

Hinata caught the painful tone in his voice. Here she was faced with a dilemma: should she continue to lie to him and feed her guilt, or tell him the truth that she had begged his mother to keep a secret? Did Kiba deserve to be kept in the dark even after these long five years?

So immersed in her thoughts was she, that Hinata didn't notice the waitress take their empty plates away and bring the bill. The parked cars along the street blurred into the painful memories of her past, reminding her that if she was selfish, she would only continue to hurt him, a lot more than he was hurting now. She would never tell him the secret, she would rather die than cause him any more pain.

_The only love you deserve is, Naruto._ She said to herself. She wouldn't never be worthy of the unconditional love that Kiba offered. She was only worth the painful and torturous unrequited love she had with Naruto.

"Let's go," Kiba rose from his seat and placed the bill folder on the table.

"Um," Hinata snapped out of her reverie and felt around inside her purse for her wallet. "What's my half?"

"Don't worry about it. It's my treat this time. Next time you can pay if you want." He replied, offering a hand to help her up from her chair. She accepted. "We can go over Orochimaru's journal again, or call it a night, your choice."

She didn't want the evening to end yet. She knew that she was torturing herself by spending more time with her husband, but, she liked his company.

"Let's finish off the report and give it to Ino, Sakura, and Kurenai for analysis." She answered. "The sooner we find some leads on this case, the better. I really want to find Miss Anko. I think that Kakashi-sensei is madly in love with her."

As they exited the restaurant, the initial awkwardness between them returned. The tension became more palpable when they'd entered the limousine to take them back to the government block to the day-time offices. Although the Res. HQ offices at Naruto's home were usually used as a base during missions, Hinata found that since her secret wedding was announced earlier that week, the easiest place to work was at the gated government offices. She didn't want to have to deflect the other resistance member's questions about her nuptials nine years ago.

The couple stayed silent as they each gazed out of the window, deep in thought, wondering when to break the awkward, and stifling silence. The rush-hour traffic would guarantee a long, anxious car ride if the tension wasn't resolved.

"You don't have to be uncomfortable around me, you know." He told her, keeping his eyes trained out the window. "You don't have to prove anything to me."

"I know," Hinata wrung her hands nervously. "But, I don't know what you want from me and it makes me nervous."

Kiba finally turned to her, "I think you know exactly what I want from you, Hinata."

"I don't think that we should go in that direction, Kiba, what we had is in the past and it can never be recovered."

"Don't get me wrong," He added curtly, "I do care for you. But, I am not the same boy I was back then who openly gives away his heart. I know that as strong of a soldier I am, I still have a heart that makes me fallible and human. You have to know that when you left me all those years ago, I almost didn't survive. A man without a heart can't function properly: even as a soldier. When a solider loses his humanity, his kindness, and his ability to love, he isn't a soldier whose main objective is to protect those he cares about. He becomes a killer with no moral compass."

"Kiba, I—" Hinata had to turn away from his intense stare. A part of her wanted to stand firm and face his pain, she deserved his hatred. But, when he offered only understanding and forgiveness, regret threatened to swallow her whole.

"You don't have to apologize." He added quickly. "It wasn't your fault you didn't feel the same for me as I did for you. When I got your note to tell me that you didn't want a divorce, it gave me hope. I knew that you had changed as much as I, but essentially, we're still the same people we were back then. The only difference is that we're a bit more bruised and beaten up from the stuff life has thrown at us. I know that we can't continue what we had in the past, but I really would like to give this marriage an actual chance at being a loving one."

Like Naruto, Kiba had a way with words. Her unrequited love for the president made her feel like fool, when she knew full well that he was in love with Sakura Haruno, yet she still had hope that one day he would see her as something special. The hope that filled Kiba's face now was the same one she'd imagined on herself whenever she was with Naruto. Her admiration for his way to create peace and understanding within the nation was legendary, and she hope that one day she could be as captivating as him.

"I still love Naruto," she stated, trying to seem uncaring. She said it as a reminder of her sins, to open up her own wounds anew. "I can't give up on him. He is the only man who sees me and notices what I've done. So, I want you to give up on me, Kiba. I'm not worth it. I don't deserve the love that you're offering. I'm happily content with the love I have."

_Lies_, her mind screamed. _Lies!_

Kiba shifted in his seat to face her. Hinata did the same, and squared her shoulders to see her husband's reaction.

"Kiss me," he demanded, almost viciously. "Kiss me, Hinata, and then tell me that you still love him. Kiss me and then tell me that you are undeserving and content with being someone's future sloppy seconds. You know that he's in love with Sakura. You know that there is no place for you in his heart. Why torture and hurt yourself when you know the facts. Why do you find me so repulsive that you shake in fear every time I touch you?"

"No, that's not true, I don't find you repulsive." she replied. "But, kissing you won't change anything and you know it!"

"None of the kisses we've shared in the past were a lie, every single one was true. So, if you really feel the way that you say that you feel, I would sense the truth in your kiss." Kiba grinned devastatingly, when she affirmed that he didn't repulse her, thus taking cheap shots at her crumbling control.

"I don't want to," she shook. Her guilt-ridden conscience wouldn't be able to take it. "Let's stop such childish games, Kiba. We're adults now, not kids who can't control themselves."

Kiba replied by pulling her in and kissing the tiny dimple near her mouth. Hinata gasped and stared wide-eyed at Kiba's. Just like that, the feelings she'd been trying to hide and forget all these years came flooding back.

"I'm in perfect control, wife. That was a warning shot," Kiba murmured as his breath against her ear sent intoxicating ripples down her spine. The smell of him filled her senses at his nearness. "The next one's going to hit its mark."

She couldn't kiss her husband and not tell him her sins. She couldn't live with the fact that he thought that she was a perfect wife when in fact, she had failed him. She didn't warrant his love. What she deserved is the pain of loving another without it ever being returned. She merited only the illusion of love, not the actual thing that her husband was offering her. But her heart was repressed, and her self-restraint spread already too thin.

"I love you, Kiba." She whispered although his sensitive hearing picked up her words.

Kiba gasped in shock, reeling. Could it be that he heard her wrong? "Say that again. Please say it again."

"I love you. I always had. Five years ago, nine years ago, always," She wiped angrily at her eyes, the release from one lie soothed her captured soul. But, she was angry for being so weak. In the restaurant, she had promised to die first before telling him anything, yet, now she was spilling her guts.

"That's all I've ever wanted to hear." Kiba took off his seatbelt so he could be closer to her. The limousine was stuck in rush hour traffic anyway. They weren't going to be moving for a while. Then realization hit him. "Then why did you leave?"

The fear in Hinata's eyes halted his breath. The pain-stricken expression on her face filled him with dread.

"Because I was going to hurt you and the pain would have killed you."

"What are you talking about?" Kiba urged, running his palms over her shivering shoulders. "Please tell me."

"You won't love me anymore once I tell you." She told him, eying him under her tear-soaked lashes. "Please allow my selfishness, husband."

Hinata placed a hand on his jaw and led his lips to hers. It was the sweetest and most pain-filled kiss he'd ever experienced. He felt no choice but to succumb. He'd waited for so long to have her in his arms again, and despite the fact that he had a feeling her words rang true, he couldn't help himself. He banished all troubled thoughts and brought her closer to him. He could never hate Hinata. He refused to believe that what she was going to tell him will change that fact.

Kiba pressed a hand against her nape and allowed his fingers to tangle in her hair. He could feel the desperation in her kiss, the love that he had owned years before escaped from her lips to electrify his. The dull ache in his chest intensified. He would never let her go again. He would never let her leave him, not when she loved him, not when he still loved her. A shiver ran down to his toes when her tongue touched his fang-like incisor. She moaned in protest when he was forced to pull her away.

After coming apart, they stared at each other, breathing deeply. He was wild with her smell and taste overwhelming his heightened senses. If he didn't end the kiss now, he would have taken her in the car. He didn't want do that to his wife, though, she needed his respect. They had to end this now or he was going to lose his mind.

"Tell me the truth, Hinata." His voice was gruff with passion as she bit her swollen lips, tempting him with another taste. "I don't think I can purge my feelings if we go on like this."

Hinata patted the seat beside her. He followed her silent instruction and sat nearest the window.

She gazed upon his conflicted countenance. His eyes were filled with desire for her, but his brows were furrowed deeply as if readying himself for the words that would turn his world upside-down.

"About a few months after we moved in together, I got pregnant." She stated as if she was doing nothing more than reading the newspaper aloud. She was using what he'd called her "diplomat voice".

Instantly, the desire in his eyes turned to alertness and then to horror, yet he stayed silent, waiting for her to continue.

"I didn't know that I was pregnant until almost two months after and you had gone on that mission trip in Otogakure for three weeks. When the doctor confirmed it, I was so excited to tell you, you know. And, when you called me every night, I had to use all my will power not to tell you about the baby. I wanted to see your reaction in person, so I kept it a secret. I didn't tell anyone because I wanted you to know first." Hinata bowed her head in shame. "I was so happy then."

"What happened to our baby?" He gently asked her, carefully hiding his fear and anger at her not telling him. She needed his comfort now, and he would never hurt her, despite what she thought she deserved.

"I was going to tell you the day that you got home, but you were exhausted." She continued. "So, I decided to make an elaborate dinner the next night and make it a sort of surprise celebration."

"But, that was the day that you…" Kiba trailed off, his dark eyes scrutinizing her pale face.

"I was so excited, I wasn't paying attention. I should have been more careful."

Kiba tugged her into his arms and she cried bitterly on his shoulder. Her lips moved against his neck as she continued to tell her story.

He remembered that day: it was the same day he kept re-living over and over again, hoping for an answer. He knew that something had happened, but the mystery was unsolvable. She had been so positively upbeat in the morning, she'd made him breakfast in bed, and they had made love until he was called to Inuzuka Corp. She had hinted that dinner would be even better than breakfast, and had told him with a saucy half-smile that she had missed him the past three weeks and couldn't wait to show him how much. But, when he got home from work that day there was no dinner waiting for him and Hinata had lost the glow she had earlier. She had rebuffed all of his touches and had gone to bed in the guest room telling him that she had a terrible headache and wouldn't want to keep him up in case she had to get up in the middle of the night. He had heard her crying and sobbing in the night, but didn't enter her room. The fact that she didn't want him to touch her hurt him.

"You lost the baby," he stated, feeling her tears collect on his shirt. "You should have told me."

"I-I was so s-stupid." She sobbed. "I wanted to get to the apartment to start dinner right away, but the elevator was taking too long. So, I took the stairs, it was only a few flights. But, I guess I was going too fast and I slipped, falling forward. My hands were dead-weights at my sides because of the shopping bags and it just happened."

"Damn it, Hinata, you should have called me. You could have been hurt; I would have helped you. I would have been there for you." Frustration filled him because he should have been there at her side. He should have known he was going to be a father. He shouldn't have found out about the whole thing five years after the fact.

"I was so worried about the baby that I dropped the bags and called your mother. She came right away and brought me to the hospital." Hinata continued to cry as if experiencing the loss once again. "At the hospital, I-I went to the b-bathroom…"

_And I had a miscarriage_

She couldn't finish her sentence but Kiba understood and held her tighter against him, desperate to keep her in one piece.

"It's my fault. I'm so stupid." She wept. He could feel her tears slide down his neck.

"It's not your fault," he told her. "It was an accident."

"I shouldn't have taken the stairs. I knew I was pregnant, but I wanted to…" Hinata blubbered, gasping in her grief. "I should have been careful. I can't be a mother, Kiba. I'll be a terrible mother."

"No," He said, brushing her hair with a shaky hand. "You will be a great mother. You will have beautiful children. They will love you and I will love you."

"Please hate me, Kiba, please say that you never want to see me again." She begged him.

"Never," He growled fiercely. "I will never let you go, Hinata. For five years I've gone over that day repeatedly, trying to see where I'd gone wrong; wondering what could have happened. In the morning we'd made love, and in the evening you wouldn't let me touch you. I didn't understand it. Then the three months after that, we barely spoke until you said you didn't love me anymore."

"I can't have the life you're offering." She tried to push him away now as if realizing that she had been clinging on to him.

"Please," He pleaded. "Don't punish yourself anymore. You're all I've ever wanted. By keeping yourself from me, I've been suffering. Please stop punishing me, too."

Kiba knew that he had to be forgiving. The woman in his arms was a hateful word away from losing her mind. He hated the feeling of helplessness that consumed him. He should have been there; he should have done something to keep her from hurting herself like this. As her husband he was supposed to protect her and instead of trying to find out what went wrong, he had pitied and hated himself for losing her.

"Shh," he whispered into her ear. "I'll always be here, Hinata. You won't have to be alone in this anymore."

"How could you still care when I've lost your child?"

"It wasn't my child, it was ours. We lost our child, but, I am thankful that I still have my wife."

"I was irresponsible, I wasn't thinking."

"What happened was an accident." He said firmly. "You didn't fall on purpose. You didn't want to lose the baby."

"But, I should have taken the elevator." Her eyes were still in the past, re-living the moments leading up to the miscarriage.

"Stuff happens, Hinata. You can't lock yourself up in your room all day because you're afraid to get hurt. One mistake can't define who you are." He refused to ease his hold, she needed him now more than ever, and he wasn't going to abandon her.

There was beep on the panel beside them.

"Mr. Inuzuka, do you want me to drive around the property one more time?" The driver asked. "I've gone around the government block three times already."

"Thanks, Spencer." Kiba replied. "I've changed my mind about going to the president's offices. Mrs. Inuzuka and I will be going home."

"Yes sir," was the quick reply and another beep ended the call.

Hinata could feel the car turning now, she hadn't realized how much time had passed nor did she realize the fact that they'd already reach her offices.

"You can drop me off at my apartment," she said pulling away from his embrace. "I don't want to burden you. Now that you know my sins against you, you don't have to look at me as if I'm the perfect wife for you. As a Hyuga, I can't divorce you, but, I'm sure that we can file for an annulment despite the fact that we've consummated the marriage. We were only seventeen when we married. Besides, I can finish off the report on my own, and you don't have to see me again." She told him using her cool and calm diplomat voice.

Kiba only stared at her, his features unreadable.

"Is this what you want, Hinata?" He asked her. His voice was so low she swore the question came out as a growl.

"It's not about what I want, Kiba. I failed you as your wife. I didn't tell you that you were a father, I lost your child, and I abandoned you. I know that I am no longer welcomed as a guest in your home."

"Answer me." He took a deep breath to keep his frustration at bay. "What do you want?"

"I don't know what you're asking." Hinata's lip shook.

Kiba wasted no time clarifying the question. He was tired of this back and forth. He wanted to stay with his wife, and she admitted she loved him. How could she now expect that she would be living apart from him?

"Do you want to stay with me? Do you want me to be your husband? Do you want to give our marriage a chance at being a loving one? Do you want to have a family with me?" He asked her. "Hinata, tell me what you want?"

"But, I don't…" She trailed off hanging her head in shame. "I'm not worth it."

"To me, you're worth everything, Hinata." He murmured, "Absolutely everything. I don't care if you think that you don't deserve the life I am offering you, I still love you. I still want to grow old with you, and have children with you. But, if you don't want to have children, we can raise a pack of dogs. I've fought for so long and I want you to be my wife. Forget the past, Hinata, and come with me to the future."

The diplomat's fists tightened in her lap. Her grey-eyes leaked out torrents of tears. Her heart threatened to rupture at his healing words. Only in Kiba's eyes was she worth everything.

"I-I want…" Her voice shook, it was her secret dream; a dream she still hoped in regardless of the facts. "I-I still w-want to b-be…" she trailed off, her sobs made her words almost inaudible as she threw her arms around his neck and her lips moved against his clavicle, forming the words that lifted him to paradise.

"What did you say?" Kiba's own voice started to shake, could he have heard her right?

She moved so that her lips were only a few inches away from his ear to repeat the words she had stated earlier.

"I've only wanted to be the mother of your children, husband." Her voice whispered in his ear.

"Wife, tell me what you want?" He asked against her ear, his breath ragged.

"I want all that you have to offer, Kiba. I want your love, your children, and I want to be part of your future. I won't fail you again."

"You've never failed me, Hinata, and you could never fail me." He breathed her in, letting her scent permeate into his memory.

When the car stopped at their house, he simply took her hand and grinned his deliriously joyous grin and stated. "Let's go."

* * *

A/N:

Hello everyone! This chapter is dedicated to all of the Kiba X Hinata fans. I've already started writing chapter 15, but, I wanted to write a romantic/dramatic chapter. This might not seem as if it's an important chapter to the plot, and you might be right, but I wanted to write this for myself. So, please let the birthday girl be selfish for once, and forgive my indulgence. Please tell me what you think of this chapter. I was really happy with the outcome of this chapter, but I can understand how some readers won't be (Naruto X Hinata fans, for example). Whatever your thoughts, I will respect them. Thank you for reading my work. The next chapter will have Anko back in the picture, as well as the ever-sexily written (at least according to reader, SinTotchi), Gaara. And, Sai and Temari will be making an appearance along with some new characters from the original series.

If you really like my writing style please introduce my fanfictions to others, if possible, as I want to get a broader reader audience. As always, I've enjoyed reading everyone's comments, and would like to get more critical reviews. I want to get better as a writer, so any pointers (ie. critiques regarding plot holes, grammar, spelling, etc) will help. That being said, please be kind. I've only had one time to edit (one read-over) the chapters I've written before posting, so unless it's a consistent problem, please be kind.

I hope that everyone is enjoying the story thus far, and please, please, please stay tuned!

Oh, and there's one more thing:

An anonymous Guest asked if Sakura and Sasuke will end up together in this fanfiction. The answer is still up in the air, but for sure they will meet up with each other and have a Spencer Tracy-vs.-Katherine Hepburn-esque tete a tete (French translation: head to head). I hope this answer piques your curiosity, Guest.


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